Altamont Road Evacuation Route Maintenance

Project Description

The Altamont evacuation route in Los Altos Hills, California provides a significant route of egress/ingress for the northern portion of the Los Altos Hills community in the event of a fire. To secure the integrity of this egress/ingress route, Los Altos Hills County Fire District and Santa Clara County FireSafe Council propose a roadside treatment of hazardous fuels.

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

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 3 roads along the evacuation route. These include Altamont Road, Briones Way, and Via Ventana Way.

The West end of the project is located at the intersection of Altamont and Page Mill Road (37.3652715, -122.1673945) and the East end of the project is located at the intersection of Altamont and Moody Road (37.3576996, -122.1342681).

This project will treat the following roads:

• Altamont Road: from Page Mill Road to Moody Road. Approximately 2.2 linear miles, 4.4 treated miles.
• Briones Way: From Altamont Road to Via Ventana Way. Approximately 0.3 linear miles, 0.6 treated miles
• Via Ventana Way: From Briones Way to Page Mill Road. Approximately 0.3 linear miles, 0.6 treated miles.

Total treated area: 2.8 linear miles, 5.6 treated miles.

Schedule

Initial treatment was completed in May 2022. The project is now in the 2-year maintenance cycle.

Next maintenance treatment is scheduled to begin on June 8, 2026.