Supervisors act to protect residents from wildfires
SAN JOSE – At County Supervisor Joe Simitian’s urging, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors unanimously directed staff to enter into a contract for enhanced and expanded defensive space brush chipping and debris removal services along public access areas to address the wildland fire risk in the County’s fire-prone areas on its western side.
The Board’s action, which was made in response to a request from Simitian in April, will allow the Central Fire Protection District Fire Chief to negotiate a new $1.25 million, five-year contract with the Santa Clara County FireSafe Council for defensive space brush chipping and debris removal services for owners and residents of properties located along public access areas in Central Fire’s Wildland Urban Interface area (WUI). The contract also allows the FireSafe Council to perform roadside vegetation treatments to maintain shaded fuel breaks and evacuation routes.
“The contract with the FireSafe Council will reduce hazardous fuels and increase public safety by creating more fire-resilient properties along public access areas in the WUI,” said Simitian, whose District Five includes the entirety of Central Fire’s territories. “And it will ultimately decrease the potential for the catastrophic loss of life and property in a wildfire.”
Simitian is supporting the FireSafe Council’s request for $60,000 in PG&E grant funding for its well-regarded, established community chipping program operated in the WUI areas of the County, which includes the Santa Cruz mountains. This funding source would allow work to be done beyond the public access area targeted by County funds, and will further help local residents in their efforts to create and maintain safe defensible space by processing or disposing of brush and tree branches.
Simitian noted, “While this is good news in terms of keeping our area safe from fires, we need even more in terms of resources, which is why I’ve asked PG&E to approve the FireSafe Council’s request for grant funding for its community chipping program. With the devastating storms that hit our mountain communities so hard this past winter, our mountain residents especially need and deserve PG&E’s support.”
Established in 1947, Central Fire’s boundary includes the cities of Cupertino, Monte Sereno, a portion of Saratoga, the town of Los Gatos, as well as rural unincorporated lands in western Santa Clara County, including the Santa Cruz Mountains. The District provides service outside its boundaries by contract to the cities of Campbell and Los Altos, the Los Altos Hills County Fire District, and the Saratoga Fire Protection District. In total, Central Fire provides emergency response to over 225,000 residents in these communities.
Through Central Fire’s Pre-Fire Management and Wildfire Resilience Program the District partners with local, state, and federal agencies to develop pre-fire management solutions and to implement projects to reduce wildfire losses. The program includes an eight-member Fire Fuels Crew as well as a Community Wildfire Specialist who works with local groups and supports community leaders in pre-fire wildland management efforts.