Woodside chipper aims to cut fire risk Woodside chipper aims to cut fire risk (April 20, 2005)

By Andrea Gemmet

Almanac Staff Writer

How much wood can a wood chipper chop? Enough to make Woodside, Portola Valley and surrounding areas a whole lot less flammable in time for the next fire season. At least, that's the hope of officials from the Woodside Fire Protection District.

Thanks to a grant from Fireman's Fund insurance, the Woodside fire district is offering curbside disposal of dry brush, low-hanging tree branches and other flammable fire fodder to district residents.

Beginning in May, the San Mateo County Fire Safe Crew and the district's brand-new wood chipper will go to a different neighborhood each week to chop up and haul away whatever homeowners can prune from their properties -- with a few exceptions. Anyone with eucalyptus bark or poison oak is going to have to find other means for its disposal, and wood containing nails or screws cannot be chipped.

Woodside fire marshal Denise Enea said the program should make it easier for property owners to create "defensible space" around their homes. A few basic things, like trimming trees so that they are at least 10 feet away from chimneys, and pruning lower tree limbs to prevent grass fires from climbing up into trees, can mean the difference between a house that is lost to a wildfire and one that firefighters can save.

The chipper program starts May 4 in the Los Trancos Woods area, and runs through the end of August. The schedule will put the Fire Safe Crew and chipper in each of the district's CERPP (Citizens Emergency Response and Preparedness Program) divisions. A full schedule is available from the fire district; call 851-1594.

Information on how to create defensible space and other fire safety tips are available at woodsidefire.org by clicking on "fire prevention." For a map of the 25 CERPP divisions, go to cerpp.org and click on "divisions" or call the fire district.

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