The Avoid the Ladder campaign educates residents about the hazards of ladder fuels and encourages compliance with vertical separation best practices. District team observed residents re-planting in treated Evacuation Route roadsides. Re-planted ornamentals touched lower limbs of existing trees, posing risk of vertical fire spread. Avoid the Ladder information is shared with residents in Evacuation Route ROEs, Firewise Communities and HIZ education.
WHAT Are Ladder Fuels?
Ladder fuels are vegetation that enables fire to spread by climbing up from ground cover to low branches. Common ladder fuels include tall grasses, shrubs, and tree branches, both living and dead.
WHY Avoid Ladder Fuels?
Removing ladder fuels is part of creating defensible space, making your property resilient against fire spread. Los Altos Hills County Fire District (LAHCFD) removes ladder fuels in the public right-of-way along public roads during Evacuation Route treatments to protect against roadside ignitions and fire spread.
HOW to Avoid the Ladder
Maintain vertical separation by pruning or removing ladder fuels, limbing up nearby trees, and avoiding re-planting ornamentals taller than 3ft near trees. Compliance with fire safety regulations advises a minimum six-foot clearance and vertical separation of three times the shrub height between a shrub and overhanging tree branches. LAHCFD will limb up public right-of-way up to 12ft and 14ft over roadways per ordinance requirements during community projects such as evacuation route treatments.
