When the fire chief recommended 100 feet of defensible space around my house to help prevent wildland fires, I pulled out my pole saw (mini chainsaw on a pole) and got to work! It’s invigorating to cut through the 2”-to-3” diameter branches so quickly, but when I got to the 4-6” branches, I needed an industrial strength chainsaw. I rented a big electric chainsaw to limb up my oaks, redwoods, and pine trees on my 2+ acres.

With the help of 9 strong helpers, we cleared all of the fallen branches in 14 hours last weekend. The Resource Conservation District landed a grant to chip all of our branches for free! Homeowners need to put in the work to do the limbing, but if they can prove they’ve done that, they can get chipping done for free, which saves a lot of money and helps prevent the spread of wildland fires. Want to learn how to prevent wildland fires? Check out the “Disaster” page.