Maintaining the legally-required 100 feet of defensible space around your property can be a challenge for homeowners. Once you’ve taken the necessary steps to protect your property by thinning and trimming hazardous brush, you are often left with large piles of dry vegetation, which can themselves become a fire hazard.
That is why we created our No-Cost Chipping program for residents in high-fire risk properties in San Diego County. Once you’ve done the hard work of preparing the space, our contractors come out and chip the cleared vegetation for you, free of charge. The chips are left with you and can be used as a weed suppressing mulch on your property.
Once your piles are prepared and ready for chipping, please click the ‘Sign Up’ button below to add your property to the wait list. If you do not have internet access, please call the Fire Safe Council at 619-562-0096 to sign up.
Program Guidelines:
Please prepare your chipping piles before you sign up for the program.
- no ground-clearing disturbance permitted while removing tree limbs or brush
- chipping crew is not responsible for moving brush beyond a 5′ distance from the chipper
- no palm, cactus, poison oak, or ice plant will be chipped
- brush must be free of mud, rocks, and other debris
- maximum six-inch diameter on cut limbs
- piles should be: no more than six feet high, within five feet of road edge, and with cut ends facing road
- piles must be fully accessible for chipping equipment and crew
- chipped material to be left on-site in the area, not hauled away
- brush or limbs that have been mechanically removed (by tractor or bulldozer) will not be chipped
- brush or limbs that have been cleared or stacked with a tractor, or bulldozer, will not be chipped
- contractors are provided with a schedule; final scheduling decisions are made by the contractor based on location
Communities currently served by the No-Cost Chipping program:
Barona Mesa
Black Canyon
Boulder Creek
Boulevard
Campo
Chihuahua Valley
Corte Madera
Deerhorn Valley
Descanso
Dulzura
Harmony Grove
Jacumba
Jamul
Greater Julian
Lake Morena
Lawson Valley
Lyons Valley
Mesa Grande
Ramona
Rural Poway
San Pasqual
SD Country Estates
Santa Ysabel
Sherilton Valley
Sunshine Summit
Valley Center
Warner Springs
Wynola
*For Alpine Residents, the Greater Alpine Fire Safe Council has a chipping program available to residents in the Greater Alpine Community: http://greateralpinefsc.org/6.html
Note:
- The No-Cost Chipping Program for fuel reduction is offered in targeted communities and are subject to availability of funding. Communities may be added or removed without notice.
- This program is funding dependent, and currently there is a wait list for the No-Cost Chipping program. If you are on the wait list, it is NOT a guarantee your property will be chipped.
The No-Cost Chipping Program is administered by the Resource Conservation District of Greater San Diego County in partnership with the Fire Safe Council San Diego County. Funding is provided primarily by a National Fire Plan grant from the Cooperative Fire program of the U.S. Forest Service through the California Fire Safe Council.
In accordance with Federal law and U.S. Department of Agriculture policy, this institution is prohibited from discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability.
