Links mentioned in the on-air version of this story.
- Plumas County Fire Safe Council’s chipping program
- Butte County Fire Safe Council’s chipping program
- Find your local fire safe council
- How to create defensible space and hardening your home to wildfire
- What to pack in a “Go Bag” or emergency supply kit
- How to prepare to evacuate from a wildfire
- How to sign up for emergency alerts in your county
Read the transcript
ADIA WHITE, HOST:
This week is Wildfire Preparedness Week in California and one important way to get prepared is to create defensible space around your home by clearing tree limbs, brush and grass. But once the work is done, what do you do with all that vegetation that’s been cleared? NSPR’s Sarah Bohannon tells us about a program in Plumas County that’s helping residents with just that.
SARAH BOHANNON, REPORTER:
Last year 350 households in Plumas County had their yard debris chipped for free by the Plumas County Fire Safe Council. Now the non-profit is getting ready to shred some more and is open for sign-ups. Hannah Hepner is the council’s program manager. She says the chipping program is of no cost to residents and rotates throughout the county.
(SOUNDBITE OF HANNAH HEPNER) “There's a week for each community area. And we do it in the late spring, early summer. And we do it again in the late summer, early fall.”
The late spring schedule starts May 24 in communities like Greenville, Lake Almanor and Chester. The following week it moves to communities like Quincy and Bucks Lake. Then to others. Hepner says the chipped debris is left on-site and the method has many benefits, including residents not having to pay to dispose of green waste, improving air quality, and being safer than other ways of discarding yard vegetation. Hepner says in a survey, the council asked past program participants what they would have done with their yard debris if they didn’t have it chipped. She says about 60 percent said they would have burned it.
(SOUNDBITE OF HANNAH HEPNER) “There are a number of escapes each year, particularly this year already has been pretty wild as far as people trying to do their due diligence and still losing fires because of the conditions.”
Hepner has worked with the council for five years, but she says with vegetation drier than she’s seen it in the past ...
(SOUNDBITE OF HANNAH HEPNER) “This is the first year that I have truly felt anxious about what we're coming into and felt concern that our programs and our efforts are not really at a scale that we can expect to be successful going into this year.”
She says that’s why it's important to take time to get prepared. Hepner says during last year’s North Complex Fire the county saw proof that creating defensible space can save homes.
(SOUNDBITE OF HANNAH HEPNER) “There was a community that did have fire go through it and the fuel treatments in that area were what was attributed to losing none of the residential structures.”
Hepner also recommends people be ready to evacuate quickly this year.
(SOUNDBITE OF HANNAH HEPNER) “There’s a lot of information available about what it means to be prepared to evacuate, but having a “Go Bag,” having a checklist of what to do as you're leaving, they’re all really helpful things to have in place.”
If there’s been one message from Mother Nature this week, it’s don’t wait to get ready. Wildfire experts say the state has already seen more fires this year, than at the same point in time last year. On Sunday, the National Weather Service issued a Red Flag Warning for much of the North State due to critical fire weather conditions. The agency says those conditions are likely again over the weekend.
For NSPR News, I’m Sarah Bohannon.
ADIA WHITE, HOST:
Those interested in the Plumas County Fire Safe Council’s chipping program can sign up at plumasfiresafe.org. There are other chipping programs in the North State as well, including in Butte County. You can find information for your closest fire safe council, as well as information about creating defensible space, what to pack in a “Go Bag”and how to prepare to evacuate on our website mynspr.org. For NSPR News, I’m Adia White.
