Santa Clara County FireSafe Council
Living With Fire in Santa Clara County
New, Improved 2009 Edition


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Living With Fire in Santa Clara County

Our updated 20-page guide for property owners and residents

This Web page is designed to provide easy access by selecting topics from the
Table of Contents below. The topics link to PDF files for each page of the guide.
Use the Back button on your Browser to return to this Web page. The larger PDF file
for the complete guide can be downloaded using the link below the Table of Contents.

 

             Table of Contents

Page

New, Improved 2009 Edition


Living With Fire
In Santa Clara County
A guide for homeowners

Front Cover

1

Santa Clara County FireSafe Council

2

The Wildfire Equation

3

Fire Environment

4

Defensible Space

5

Frequently Asked Questions on Defensible Space

6-7

Creating Defensible Space - A Step-by-Step Guide

8

Step 1 - Determine the slope of your property

9

Step 2 - Remove dead and dry vegetation

10

Step 3 - Break up continuous vegetation

11

Step 4 - Separate "Ladder Fuels"

12

Step 5 - Lean, Clean and Green around your house
Step 6 - Maintaining Defensible Space

13
13

Fire Safe Landscape Design

14

Planting Trees Near Power Lines

15

Additional Safety Recommendations

16

Fire Resistant Plants

17

Roofing Materials

18

When Wildfire Approaches

19

Why 100 Feet Defensible Space?

20

Just for Kids and Contact Information Insert

1-4
FireSafe Advice for Older Adults Insert 1
Return to the main Fire Safe Page

Click here to download the complete Living With Fire in Santa Clara County (Large PDF file - 6.5 MB)

If you distribute information from this guide, please credit the Santa Clara County FireSafe Council and/or link to our Home page (www.SCCFireSafe.org).

Click here to download the complete Smokey Bear Activity Book for Kids (Large PDF file - 6 MB)

More detailed Homeowner's information is in the University of California Homeowner's Wildfire Mitigation Guide


Updated 7/26/09

Santa Clara County organizations which would like to have paper copies of the Living With Fire booklet for distribution are invited to E-mail or phone (408) 975-9591.

To adapt and print this publication for other fire departments or fire safe councils, contact Sentinel Printers, 912 Cedar Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, Phone (831) 423-2198 or E-mail.

Funding provided by National Fire Plan grants from the USDI Bureau of Land Management, the USDA Forest Service and the US Fish and Wildlife Service through the California Fire Safe Council. Our Community Outreach, Education and Youth programs and other council activities are also funded by grants and donations from local agencies, companies, foundations, organizations and individual donors. Please see our Thank You! and About Us pages for a list of donors and contributors.

The views and conclusions on this Web site are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the opinions or policies of the California Fire Safe Council, the Santa Clara County FireSafe Council or the U.S. Government. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute an endorsement by the California Fire Safe Council, the Santa Clara County FireSafe Council or the U.S. Government.

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