Coast Lines: July 25, 2008 - Santa Cruz Sentinel

Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, will hold a town hall meeting at the Scotts Valley City Council chamber 9:30-11 a.m. Saturday.

[owh]

I think the fire department should start clearing and conducting controlled burns all over the county. AND all homes in the county should be required to clear their homes of trees and bushes up to 100ft if the home is in a fire zone. If they don't want too then perhaps they should be fined...or charged for the expense of having fire crews show up to try and save their property.
Several homes that burned in the Trabling fire could have been saved..but they had no chance because they were so "buried in bushes"! People who don't clear their property are just asking for it!

[Dan Young]

Approx. 150 homes have been lost in California fires this season with over 1 million acres burned.

The Trabing Fire burnt about only 650 acres but 26 homes were burnt to the ground. That's a heavy percentage.

100 foot minimum clearance should be required of all homes/structures and the removal of eucalyptus trees- to be replaced with native tree/plant species.

[dooner]

What do you recommend be done when a house is located on a steep slope? Clearing all vegetation will likely result in the house being at the bottom of the slope by end of winter! It's not unusual to get 5 inches of rain in one day in the Santa Cruz mountains.

The best solution I have found is to plant herbaceous or woody ground covers and irrigate them. Rye grass is also used, but should be trimmed if it becomes dry. Another solution (Sunset magazine) is to prune to thin or remove wood chaparral, irrigating occasionally in summer to maintain moisture level.

Now is the time to do this, so the plants will be rooted by winter.