Although fire season has not officially opened, CALFIRE is already helping some Napa County residents have a fire-safe year, by encouraging them to clear brush near their homes.

Residents living in the wildland urban areas where there is a high fire risk will be able to take advantage of CALFIRE’s free chipping program.

The program, which starts today, enables those who remove fire-prone vegetation from around  their homes to clear their property of the fire danger. CALFIRE will turn their piles of clippings into mulch.

Residents are asked to pile their clippings alongside a road or driveway, giving the crews enough space to work. The maximum size of pile allowed is 20 feet long by 6 feet high by 10 feet wide. All debris should be piled with cut ends pointing in one direction. Poison oak clippings will not be accepted.

The chopped material will be left on the ground to decompose.

The program, which started in 2004, has grown by leaps and bounds.

Last year, CALFIRE received 400 requests and chipped nearly 60,000 cubic yards of brush and weeds, according to Napa County Fire Marshal Gabrielle Avina.

“This is a far cry from the 10,000 cubic yards we processed in 2004,” Avina said. “We’re very pleased with the public’s response. From an environmental standpoint, chipping instead of burning has eliminated over 75,000 pounds of particulate matter from entering the air we breath. Everyone benefits.”

Although the greatest fire risk is in the hills and canyons, the program is also available to those living on the valley floor if they live in a high-risk fire area, Avina said. “We are not trying to exclude anyone.”

Avina said the chipping program will be extended six weeks longer than last year.

The program goes hand-in-hand with a countywide weed abatement ordinance adopted last June.

The law requires those living in areas of high fire risk to clear all vegetation within 100 feet around their home.

Come June 1, CALFIRE will have fire prevention officers out enforcing the ordinance, as required by state legislation adopted in 2005. About 7,500 developed parcels in Napa County are affected by the law.

Since there is no way county fire staff can visit each of them, officers will be targeting the high-risk areas that have been a problem in the past, such as Angwin, Deer Park, Berryessa Estates, Soda Canyon, Atlas Peak and Dry Creek, Avina said. “We also will be following up on complaints we receive from neighbors of those who are not in compliance with the ordinance.”

Homeowners not in compliance will be given 21 days to clear the weeds and brush.

If they don’t comply, the county will bring in a private contractor to do the work for them. However, homeowners don’t get off free. They are responsible for the cost of the contractor, which could run as high as $500. Those who do not pay will have a lien put against their property, Avina said.

Weed abatement has been around a long time, and the county has had the authority to issue citations.

“But that doesn’t solve the problem,” Avina said. “We want residents to clear the space around their homes for their personal safety and property protection.”

Napa County Fire Chief Ernie Loveless said weed abatement and clearing a defensible space around structures is critical for life and property when it comes to wildland fires. “It’s been proven over and over again,” he said.

Loveless said the chipping program “has proved to be a huge success. We are starting earlier this year and going longer.”

Those wishing to participate in the chipping program can sign up online at www.napafirewise.org and click on the chipping program icon. Simply fill out the application.

Information is available by calling 967-1426.