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Brush Clearing Guidelines

Firescape Garden Guidelines

Prevention, Preparing, Planning

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Firescape Garden Guidelines

Landscape your property with fire resistant planting. For a list and actual exhibit of recommended plants visit the Firescapes Garden, located across from City Fire Station No. 7 at the corner of Stanwood and Mountain Drives. The Garden is open every day from 8:00 a.m. until sunset and admission is free. Take the time to visit the Firescape Garden and pick up a plant list giving the Latin and Common names of recommended plants.

• Highly flammable plants to avoid planting or consider removing the following plants:
• Bamboo
• California Sagebrush
• Cedar
• Chamise
• Common Buckwheat
• Cypress
• Eucalyptus
• Fir
• Fountain Grass
• Ironwood
• Juniper
• Pampas Grass

When designing a fire safe landscape remember less is better. Simplify visual lines and groupings. A fire safe landscape lets plants and garden elements reveal their innate beauty by leaving space between plants and groups of plants. Open spaces are more important than the plants. The City of Santa Barbara Fire Department has a local fire safe garden where you can view and learn more about fire safe landscapes concepts. For more information call 564-5702.

Power and Utility Lines

Trees and power lines don not mix. Tree limbs that grow into power lines and touch energized wires can start a fire by dropping hot embers on the ground under certain conditions. In addition, trees may blow into power line, or snap off, creating a dangerous condition or power outage.

In high fire hazard areas such as the Santa Barbara mountain communities, utility companies are required to annually maintain vegetation clearances from power poles and lines for public safety. Edison utilizes both aircraft and ground crews to provide this service. This means electrical utility providers must maintain 10 feet of vegetation clearance on nonexempt power poles. On power lines that are considered primary distribution or transmission lines, the amount of vegetation clearance varies depending on the lines voltage.

Landscaping around your home should be planed to avoid planting trees, shrubs, or grasses that may interfere with required utility company clearance. If you have any questions regarding required clearance distances, contact your local utility company representative or the county fire department.

• Do not plant trees, shrubs, or grass within 10 feet of a power pole.
• Do not plant trees that grow taller than 25 feet within 20 feet of a power line.
• Do not plant trees that grow more than 40 feet within 20 to 50 feet of a power line.
• Trees that grow taller than 40 feet should be planted at least 50 feet from a power line.

While other utility lines such as cable television and telephone do not have the same electrical hazards, damage to the wires will cause potential problems with the service provided. Damaged telephone lines can take days to repair. Moreover, the main trunk and fiber optic communication line to the valley runs up through the San Marcos Pass. Damage to these lines could interrupt telephone service to thousands of people.

Defensible Space

Defensible space is a critical factor in determining whether or not your home will survive a wildfire. Vegetation growing adjacent to your home has considerable influence on a fire's behavior or burning characteristics. All vegetation, including naturally occurring native plants and ornamental plants in a residential landscape is potential wildfire fuel. Vegetation that is properly modified and maintained can slow a wildfire and reduce the amount of heat around a home. This will reduce the potential for fire to transfer to the home and provide firefighters with a safe area to defend a home from an oncoming wildfire.

Steps to follow include:

• Determine defensible space area
• Remove dead vegetation
• Break up continuous dense cover of shrubs or trees
• Remove ladder fuels
• Provide 30 feet of lean, clean and green landscaping
• Complete vegetation clearance on driveways and streets
• Annual maintenance of defensible space