Enforcement of Fire Safe Defensible Space in the Highway 4 Corridor and Big Trees Village
In response to the devasting fires in Southern California several years ago, California recently revised the requirements for fire safe clearing around homes and structures. The State agency charged with writing these new guidelines circulated several drafts to various agencies and groups for review and comment. The final guidelines were then adopted and approved in the spring of 2006. The new requirements extend the long standing 0 to 30 foot clearing requirement to 100 feet from cabins, homes, and improvements. Here is the link to the guidelines that will be enforced in Big Trees Village beginning in 2007: http://www.bof.fire.ca.gov/pdfs/Copyof4291finalguidelines9_29_06.pdf
Local fire fighting entities are charged with interpreting and enforcing these guidelines as it applies to local conditions. In 2006, the traditional 0 - 30' standard was enforced here in Big Trees Village, and it was recommended that property owners begin working on the new 30 - 100 foot standard. California Department of Forestry or CDF has recently changed its name to CalFire. Cal Fire is responsible for enforcing fire safety standards on improved lots, i.e. those with cabins or homes. The local Cal Fire agency decided that beginning in 2007, it would enforce the new 100' State wide standard. Property owners are still expected to perform the clearing from 0 to 30 feet to the same standard as in the past. The new standard affects the perimeter around homes and structures from 30' to 100'. (In those cases where one's property line is located nearer than 100' feet, then the property owner should clear only to his or her own property line, but not further. In other words, these new regulations do not give property owners the right to clear on a neighbor's property unless permission is first obtained.)
This new regulation is designed to reduce "fire fuels" and eliminate the "fire ladders" which would allow a ground fire or structure fire to spread up into the canopy of the trees and become a full blown crown fire. At a presentation in January, 2007, to a group of homeowners associations here in the Highway 4 corridor, the Cal Fire Information Officer for Calaveras County Nancy Longmore summarized the new standards by breaking them into four different categories:
1) Remove All Dead Material Remove all dead material from the ground, from shrubs, and from trees. In removing dead material from the ground, one should specifically not rake to mineral earth. Pine needles and smaller material that has already started decomposing should be left for forest health and erosion protection. Dead branches should be removed from shrubs and trees. Entire dead trees, also called "snags", must also be removed. However, up to four snags may be left standing for habitat preservation for certain wildlife species provided these snags are not a hazard to homes and structures.
2) Limb All Trees Remove the limbs from the bottom of treees so that the lowest aspect of any branch is at least 10' off the ground when the tree is on level ground, and up to 15' off the ground on steeper grades. The exception is if such limbing would remove more than 1/3rd of the limbs from the tree, in which case limbing should be no more than 1/3rd of the height of the tree. The native ground cover Chamaebatia foliolosa, also called Mountain Misery, should be cut down to ankle height . 3) Remove All "Fire Ladders". "Fire ladders" are shrubs and smaller trees located under larger canopy trees that, if they caught fire from a spreading ground fire, would spread the fire up into the canopy. These ladders must either be removed entirely, or the branches in the overhanging canopy trees must be limbed up to a height three times the height of the underlying shrub. In other words, multiply the height of the shrub or smaller tree times three. That is the height that the larger overhanging tree should be limbed up to. Also, shrubs should be separated from each other by a distance of at least twice their height . 4) Choose from either "Plan A" or "Plan B" Plan A: Thin the forest so that there is space between the crowns of trees. On level ground, at least ten feet between each crown is the minimum, but on slopes the separation between crowns should be greater. The steeper the slope, the more widely spaced should be the trees. On a 20% slope, the distance between the crowns should be at least 20' for example. Thinning helps prevent, or seriously impede, crown fires from propogating through the forest and is referred to on page 4 in the above mentioned publication General Guidelines as "Fuel Separation" or plan A. A picture of Fuel Separation in a forest like ours is provided and is an example of Plan A. Plan A more closely represents what the our forests looked like before fire suppression started in the Sierra. When natural wild fires regularly burned in the forests, the trees were naturally widely spaced, and the ground cover and shrubs were kept in check. The trees were much healthier also because this is the state they are used to growing in. They are not competing for sunlight, water, and nutrients. They are more robust and not subject to disease. A Point of Information: If you are removing trees for this Plan A option, and those trees will be sold for profit even though they are being removed for the 100' fire safe clearance, you are still required to obtain a timber harvest permit. Fortunately, CalFire has made this very easy for homeowners when the work is being done to comply with the fire safety regulations.There is no fee for this permit, and there is no long time delay in obtaining it. In fact, it is designed to favor this kind of work being done. One simply downloads the form, completes it, and mails it to the appropriate agency, in our case in Fresno. If they do not respond in five working days, you may proceed with your tree removal. Just make sure you have kept evidence of having mailed the form to them in your records. You may obtain this form at: http://www.fire.ca.gov/resource_mgt/downloads/ch_frhz3a.pdf
Plan B: Please note that an alternative clearing method available to thinning the canopy as required in Plan A is offered. This option is referred to on page 8 as "Defensible Space with Continuous Tree Canopy". A picture of plan "B" in our type of forest is shown. Plan B requires that that ALL dead material is removed from the ground, ALL fire ladders are addressed, and ALL trees are limbed up. Plan B may be preferrable to some owners in Big Trees Village because we have many tree crowns that are closer than 10 feet apart, and the cost and visual esthetic of tree removal may favor Plan B. However, it is not the healthier choice for the forest, since trees that are crowded together with crowns touching are overcongested and subject to disease and blight as mentioned above. They also may not halt an advancing crown fire, it only makes that advance more managable since all understory fuel fire load has been removed in Plan B.If one has the choice, Plan A may be a better choice. It is healthier for the forest because it allows each tree adequate sunshine, water, and nutrients; it more closely approximates the historical conditions these trees were accustomed to growing in; and prevents a better fire break against an advancing crown fire. Still, under the current rules, Plan B is an acceptable fuel reduction optios for property owners in CalFire's regulations. http://www.bof.fire.ca.gov/pdfs/Copyof4291finalguidelines9_29_06.pdf
Ebbetts Pass Fire District (EPFD) is responsible for enforcing fire safety standards on unimproved lots, i.e. vacant lots, in Big Trees Village. EPFD has stated it will adopt identical standards for clearing on unimproved lots to those Cal Fire (formerly CDF) has adopted for those with improvements. This pertains to those portions of unimproved lots that are within 100 feet of any home, cabin, or improvement, even if those improvements are on a neighbor's property. As an example of how this rule is to be applied, we happen to own the unimproved lot next to our cabin. The other end of our unimproved lot is within 100' of a neighbor's cabin. My understanding is that I am responsible for doing the fire safe cleaning that is on my portion of my property within 100' of my neighbor's cabin. Initially it seemed unfair to me that I should be responsible for clearing on my property in order to complete the 100' radius around my neighbor's cabin. Then I heard a lecture by EPFD Chief Warren Wilkes last year. He explained that the number one risk for a full blown forest (i.e. crown) fire in Big Trees Village is from a structure fire right here in Big Trees Village. Historically wild forest fires were started by lightning. Chief Wilkes explained that nowadays, the number one cause of forest fires in areas with homes is home fires that jump into the forest. He pointed out that our forests have been fire suppressed for a century in the Highway 4 corridor and that we are at very high risk for a devasting fire. He said in many cases, dense forest and understory come right up to homes and cabins. He said a structure fire during the height of fire season, when it is hot an dry, may easily and quickly spread from structure to become full blown forest fires in a matter of minutes. Again, he stressed that in our community, statistically it will be a structure fire that starts a forest fire, not lightning. It is for this reason that I have started the 100' perimeter work near my neighbor's cabin on my unimproved lot, not to protect his cabin, but to protect the forest on my lot from being burned to the ground in the event his cabin catches on fire.
Disclaimer: The above information represents my best understanding of the current law and how it is to be applied based on the lectures and public presentations I have heard during the past several years by local fire fighting officials who are responsible for fighting our fires and enforcing the new standards. Specifically, this page is mine alone, and does not represent the position of the Board of Big Trees Village Property Owners Association. Please do not rely on this information to inform you about your specific situation on your property. For up-to-date authoritative answers to specific questions, please contact our local Cal Fire (CDF) Station in Arnold at (209) 795-1542 regarding improved lots, or Ebbetts Pass Fire District in Arnold at (209) 795-1646 for unimproved lots.
Final Thought: One important point is that Cal Fire (formerly CDF) and Ebbetts Pass Fire Department both realize these new regulations regarding the 30 to 100 foot perimeter around homes and cabins will require, in many cases, significant additional clearing. While our fire services know this clearing is essential to make our Big Trees community fire safer, all the lectures I have heard by our local fire officials indicate they are eager to cooperate with the community in a collaborative fashion to achieve this goal. Through education and increased community awareness, they wish to encourage steady progress towards the goal of clearing the 30 to 100 foot perimeter. Respectfully submitted Steve Lauterbach, Webmaster | ||
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