The Santa Clara County FireSafe Council Chipping Program is designed to assist residents and communities in their efforts to create and maintain adequate and safe defensible space by processing or disposing vegetative material such as brush and tree branches. Required defensible space clearing is 0-100 feet from permanent structures. Due to the varying natures of hillside neighborhoods, different types of chipping services may be necessary.
We Offer the Following Types of Scheduled Chipping Services
At Home Chipping – Residents submit an application for chipping services to be performed at their home. Brush must be prepared in advance of the chipping appointment and must meet all specified guidelines
Drive Up Chipping Event – A date the community has previously selected, at a location within the community, residents drive the brush up in their own vehicle and it is chipped on the spot.
Due to limited grant funding the 2023 chipping program is at maximum capacity.
If you register & receive a "wait list" notification, then you will be automatically notified if we are able to add you to our 2023 chipping schedule.
Are you prepared for your upcoming chipping event?
We are so glad that you have been working on creating defensible space around your home!
Please remember; the Defensible Space Chipping Program was created to help you chip fuels that you have removed during your defensible space clearing and therefore, because of limited funding, we cannot support extra chipping created by the removal of “storm debris” from outside of your defensible space area (zones 0-2).
Some things to remember about the Defensible Space Chipping Program:
- We are unable to chip more than 100 cubic yards per registered resident.
- All cut brush must be stacked within 10-feet of your driveway entrance on a level surface.
- Please stack all the of the material to be chipped facing the same direction with the base of the branch facing toward the street (so that it can be easily picked up and placed in the chipper)
- Tree limbs and cut brush should not exceed more than 4-inches in diameter.
- Chipping piles are not to exceed 100 cubic yards of material.
- Chips will be broadcast back onto the property where the chipping piles were located.
- We cannot support extra chipping created by the removal of “storm debris” from outside of your defensible space area (zones 0-2).
- The following items are NOT permitted and will not be chipped: Lumber, trash, poison oak, blackberry brambles, firewood, construction materials, regular yard waste, piles leaves, lawn clippings, sod, yucca, ice plant, bamboo, stumps, pampas grass, palm fronds, cactus, rocks, and dirt.
*To be automatically notified of future chipping events in your area…
When registering, please make sure to CHECK the box under “Opt in to notification about future events.“
2023 Chipping Program Info
- Check out “Prepping for Chipping” for useful info
- Check out “Uses for Chips after Chipping” for useful info
- Questions? dschip@sccfiresafe.org
- We are following all COVID-19 Health & Safety Guidelines. Our field staff and contractors will adhere to all county regulations.
- The Chipping Program is available every year from April to June. Check back every March for updated info.
- We are only accepting applications for residential parcels for residents living in the WUI. Please search your address in our interactive web map to view if you reside in our chipping areas.
- FireSafe Council of Santa Cruz County has their own chipping removal program.