SHELTER in YARD is the Santa Clara County FireSafe Council’s new non-gathering compliant program to encourage residents to create defensible space for their homes while they are sheltering in place. Click here for information, pictures, diagrams, descriptions and other resources to help you know what work to get done in your yard while staying at home.
Firewise USA Recognition
By Jeff Bates and David Hubbard
When we see images of the devastation from wildfires that California residents have faced over the last few years, it is natural to ask what more we can do to better prepare our communities and ourselves in case of wildfires. These questions motivated Redwood Estates residents to attend a community wildfire-awareness seminar in April at the Redwood Estates Pavilion. This seminar was hosted by the Santa Clara County FireSafe Council and the Santa Clara County Fire Department, and led by Eugenia Rendler. The seminar provided attendees with guidelines and action plans to help keep their homes and families safe, such as early evacuation planning, creating defensible spaces around their homes by minimizing brush, vegetation, ladder fuels, and removing dead trees, and keeping rooftops and gutters free of debris.
We want to encourage our neighbors to maintain their property to minimize the spread of fire, and be available to help their neighbors do the same.
Attendees also learned that Redwood Estates could become a Firewise USA® recognized site. We have achieved this goal.
In order for a community to become recognized as Firewise by the National Fire Protection Association, a majority of community members must participate. They must make efforts to reduce the risk of fire by developing plans such as vegetation management, fire-resistant landscaping, clearly marked street signs, and street addresses on residential structures. They must hold community meetings to educate residents on the risks of wildfires in a wildland-urban interface area.
Redwood Estates has always promoted fire safety, sponsoring community brush-chipping programs for the past thirty years. Redwood Estates Services Association was approached by the Santa Clara County FireSafe Council to find out how our community designed the “drive-up chipping program” and began partnering with us in 2009. This partnership resulted in two annual brush-chipping days, yielding an average of 135 truckloads chipped per day. This opened doors to many community hazardous-fuel reduction programs and grant money.
Another important aspect to becoming Firewise is to perform a community-risk assessment with the assistance of the Santa Clara County Fire Department. This assessment was reviewed and edited by Santa Clara Country Fire Battalion Chief Jon Black, who suggested ways we could reduce brush on vacant or uninhabited lots and ensure that street signs are not obstructed and are highly reflective.
These projects help keep our mountain homes and communities safe. If you have questions about fire safety in Redwood Estates, email us at [email protected], or visit www.sccfiresafe.org. Being recognized as a Firewise community is not a one-time accomplishment. It requires reducing fuels annually and making an ongoing commitment to protecting our mountain community. In the words of John Muir: “You are not in the mountains, the mountains are in you.”
First printed in the Mountain Network News, October 2019, pp. 10–11
The in-person annual meeting was canceled due to recommendations from Santa Clara County during the COVID-19 situation and precautions were taken. The voting, however, continued. We achieved quorum with 352.53 votes received (we needed 258.41 or 20% of voting members).
Congratulations to 2020 board members David Hubbard and Philip Warnecke!
Your Board of Directors serving from 3-15-2020 until the annual meeting in March 2021 are Rick Swayne, Chris Goldsbury, David Hubbard, Philip Warnecke, and Philip Schuyler.
The Annual Meeting of the Members scheduled for this Sunday, March 15, 2020, has been cancelled due to recommendations from the Santa Clara County Public Health Department’s concerns about the recent COVID-19 epidemic.
Please Vote
Although the meeting is cancelled, it is important that you vote and submit your ballots for the two open Board positions. RESA must receive your signed ballot to ensure we achieve voter quorum. If votes are not met, we must resend the voting package to each member of Redwood Estates.
Please sign, seal and deliver your ballot either to the RESA office mailbox, or mail them to the Inspector of Elections, P.O. Box 433, Redwood Estates CA, 95044.
Thank you.
Even here in unincorporated Santa Clara County, there are leash laws for dogs. From the www.scc.gov website: “Dogs must be controlled by a 6’ leash at all times, except in designated off-leash areas. Use of extended leashes, voice control, or electronic collars does not meet the County’s ordinance requirements for controlling one’s dog.”
When you are walking your dog in Redwood Estates, please comply with the law and leash them, in order that your pet, your neighbors’ property, their children, and livestock or poultry can all stay safe.
For off-leash facilities and information about having fun with your dog in County parks, click here.