Yuba County Fire Hazard Reduction Project Public Resources Code 4291: Defensible Space Chipping Support

Yuba County Fire Hazard Reduction Project Public Resources Code 4291: Defensible Space Chipping Support

The Yuba County Fire Hazard Reduction Project, Public Resources Code 4291: Defensible Space Chipping Support, entails the use of chippers to treat vegetative material removed by residents in areas in accordance with Public Resources Code 4291. The residents place the material they cut from their property at the edge of the adjacent road or driveway. The chipper crew hand loads the material into the chipper. The chipped material is then deposited back onto the property wher the material was stacked. PRC 4291 requires "any person who owns, leases, controls, or maintains any building or structure in, upon, or adjoining any mountainous area or forest covered lands, brush covered lands, or grass covered lands, or any land covered with flammable material, shall at all times do all of the following: a. Maintain around and adjacent to such building or structure a firebreak made by removing and clearing away, for a distance of not less than 30 feet on each side thereof or to the property line which ever is nearer, all flammable vegetation or other combustible growth. (Other provisions in PRC 4291 include removable of other vegetative material near and about the structure)" Residents who utilize the program are required to clear the vegetation around their structure(s), in compliance with PRC 4291, and place that cut material at the edge of their property near the road or driveway. Before the chipper program began, the resident's preferred method of treatment was to pile and burn. Pile burning can result in fire escapes and air quality problems. Chipping the material offers a safer and clearer method of treatment.

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