Elena-Fremont Road Evacuation Route Maintenance

Project Description

Elena-Fremont evacuation routes in Los Altos Hills, California provide a significant route of egress/ingress for the northern portion of the Los Altos Hills community in the event of a wildfire. To secure the integrity of these egress/ingress routes, Los Altos Hills County Fire District and Santa Clara County FireSafe Council propose a roadside treatment of hazardous fuels.

You may read more about Elena-Fremont project goals on the Santa Clara County FireSafe Council website.

Project Maps

Parcel maps below highlight residences (parcels) adjacent to the three segments of the project route.

Read the Black-Purissima media release.

Before & After Photos

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In areas with fences, vegetation has been trimmed back to the fence line. Low-growing tree branches and excess vegetation are cut away from the lower portion of the trees to create a separation between the tree canopy and ground fuels.

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Hazardous brush, grasses, tree limbs, and vegetation is cleared to the fence line.

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Hazardous brush, grasses, tree limbs, and vegetation is cleared to the fence line, and ground vegetation is cut to less than 6" in height.

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Tree branches are raised up, meaning they are trimmed to a height that is up to 14 feet from the surface of the road. This excess vegetation is cut away from the lower portion of trees to create a separation between the tree canopy and ground fuels.

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Tree branches are raised up, meaning they are trimmed to a height that is up to 14 feet from the surface of the road.

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Weeds, grasses and ground vegetation within 15 feet of the center line of the road are trimmed to shorter than 6". When there's a path, as shown here, the prescription allows for trimming to 4 feet beyond the width of the path.

 

Project Site

This project will treat seven (7) roads along the evacuation route. These include Elena Road, La Barranca Road, Purissima Road, Concepcion Road, W. Fremont Road, Westwind Way, and La Paloma Road.

The West end of the project is located at the intersection of Elena and Natoma Road (37.3756413, -122.1521703) and the East end of the project is located at the intersection of W Fremont Road and W Edith Avenue (37.3804304, -122.1245742).

This project will treat the following roads:

• Elena Road from Natoma Road to La Barranca Road. Approximately 0.6 linear miles, 1.2 treated miles.
• La Barranca Road from Elena to Purissima Road. Approximately 0.4 linear miles, 0.8 treated miles.
• Purissima Road from La Barranca to Robleda Road. Approximately 0.5 linear miles, 1 treated mile.
• Concepcion Road from Purissima to W. Fremont Road. Approximately 0.9 linear miles, 1.8 treated miles.
• W. Fremont Road from Concepcion Road to W. Edith Avenue. Approximately 0.8 linear miles, 1.6 treated miles.
• Westwind Way from Concepcion Road to La Paloma Road. Approximately 0.2 linear miles, 0.4 treated miles.
• La Paloma Road from Purissima Road to W Fremont Road. Approximately 1 linear mile, 2 treated miles.

Total treatment: 4.4 linear miles, 8.8 treated miles.

Schedule

Initial treatment was completed in March 2024. The project is now in the 2-year maintenance cycle.

Next maintenance treatment is scheduled to begin on May 4, 2026.