The Los Altos Hills County Fire District encourages residents to use vegetation management practices to reduce the chance of large, damaging wildfires, by reducing fire hazards on their properties. The Santa Clara County FireSafe Council’s Shelter-in-Yard program provides guidelines for how to create defensible space around a property.
Vegetation Management practices include:
Home Ignition Zones
- Choose fire-resistant building materials
- Limit the amount of flammable vegetation in the three home ignition zones
- Immediate Zone: 0- to 5-feet around the house
- Intermediate Zone: 5- to 30-feet around the house
- Extended Zone: 30- to 100-feet around the house
Landscaping and Maintenance
- Trim branches that overhang the home, porch, deck, etc.
- Prune branches of large trees up to 6- to 10-feet, depending on their height, from the ground
- Remove plants containing resins, oils, and waxes
- Use crushed stone or gravel instead of flammable mulches in the Immediate Zone (0- to 5-feet around the house)
- Keep landscaping in good condition
Santa Clara County Community Wildfire Protection Plan
For more education on wildfire risks and mitigation efforts in the Fire District, review the District’s Addendum to Revised Annex 4 of the Santa Clara County Community Wildfire Protection Plan (County-CWPP). The County-CWPP is a strategic plan, which identifies countywide issues and common strategies for creating a safer wildland-urban interface community. The County-CWPP includes sections of annexes identified for each jurisdiction to address their specific issues and goals. Revised Annex 4 and its Addendum specifically addresses the Los Altos Hills County Fire District, encourages specific pre-planning actions for the resiliency of property in wildfires, and for self-reliance of residents and community in the event of a disaster. These documents are not inclusive of all strategies to address the threats and realities of wildfires and disasters. They are designed to be dynamic documents that will be revised as fire science and wildfire experiences dictate new approaches and best practices.
