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If you cut it, fire safe council will chip it




You’ve gone out and cleared brush from around your property to create defensible space and now you have a pile of dead vegetation you want to turn into mulch. Who you gonna call?

The Deer Springs Fire Safe Council, that’s who. If you cut it, they’ll chip it.

The state of California has granted the council funds to help reduce the wildfire threat by chipping cleared vegetation throughout the district. The Deer Springs Fire Safe Council chipped 354,881 cubic feet of hazardous vegetation during a previous grant period, helping to reduce the fire threat significantly. That grant money ran out last year, so with this new grant the council can help you reduce the fire threat around your property for the next two years.

What will this service cost you? The Deer Springs Fire Safe Council will do it for free; all they ask is that you give them a donation that will be used to continue fire safety education in your community.

The way the program works is that property owners must cut the vegetation, and the council will provide a fully insured crew and equipment to chip it on site. You don’t have to load it and haul it to a central location. It is important to note that this service is provided to homeowners as a safety measure, and is not meant as a low-cost alternative for businesses that want to use the council as a way to reduce their costs. That would violate the terms of the grant and jeopardize future grants.

To use this service, the council has several requirements that protect the volunteers, professionals and equipment. You must pile the material in an orderly manner in a place that is accessible for the chipper and its truck — it can’t be far from a road or deep in a canyon at the end of a coyote trail, for example. And council volunteers need to see the pile before chipping it, as there is some material that the chipper and crews can’t handle. If you believe you qualify for this program, email dsfsc1@sbcglobal.net and someone will be glad to help.

The State Responsibility Area Fire Prevention Fund, which helps pay for fire prevention projects, including reducing fire fuel, funds this chipping program. Fuel, in this case, means vegetation, which is approaching record dry levels.

The Deer Springs Fire Safe Council is a 501(c)(3) community service organization and council members who operate the chipping program are volunteers who are not compensated for their time. The council hires a trained, fully insured professional crew to operate the chipper.



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