Vegetation and Emergency Roadside Clearance ORC Canyon Communities

Vegetation and Emergency Roadside Clearance ORC Canyon Communities

The project goal is to reduce hazardous fuels along private roadways located in the SRA. The treatment area is approximately 8 acres. The project will provide a benefit to home located in canyon communities of Orange County, Silverado, Williams, Modjeska, and Trabuco. This project will include raising the canopy and brushing back vegetation from the edge of the road surface on both sides of private roads within the communities. The project will reduce the risks associated with wildlife to the habitable structures in by reducing the vegetation on narrow, private roads, improving ingress and egress. The vegetation in some areas currently encroaches on the roadways, limiting visibility and slowing emergency access and are often the only way in and out of the communities. The reduction of the vegetation will not only improve access, but will reduce the fuel load (including ladder fuels) around the densely-packed homes and increase defensible space. This fuel reduction project will also improve visibility allowing for faster response times to stop a structure fire from spreading to the WUI, and threatening additional structures and communities. Project activities will consists of removing encroaching vegetation, pruning/thinning existing vegetation, and the removal of dead or dying vegetation. The final desired clearance will be a minimum of fifteen feet of vertical clearance along existing private roadways and five feet from the edge of the road surface. The cut vegetation will be moved to predetermined sites (OCFA Fire Station 14, 16, and 18) to be chipped into green waste bins and hauled away to green waste facilities. The work will be completed by the California Conservation Corp or the Orange County Fire Authority hand crews. All work will be completed along existing roads.

Orange