News - Fire Safe San Mateo

Record Low Live Fuel Moistures Measured in San Mateo and Santa Cruz Counties

CAL FIRE has measured live fuel moistures that are at or near record low levels for this time of year at each sampling site in Mateo and Santa Cruz counties.

End of July (2013) live fuel moisture for the San Mateo - Santa Cruz (CZU) CAL FIRE Ranger Unit is posted online here and summarized below.

Location	Current (%)7/22	Previous (%)6/18	Change
Hwy 35 & 92 - coyote brush	151	164	-13
Pulgas - coyote brush	134	149	-15
Saratoga Summit - chamise	82	102	-20
new growth	89	120	-31
old growth	74	83	-9
Corralitos - manzanita	83	90	-7
new growth	83	93	-10
old growth	83	87	-4

Live fuel moisture levels are at or near record lows for this time of year at each of the sampling sites. The levels we are seeing now are typically not seen until September. Manzanita at Corralitos is approaching “critical.” For Manzanita, the critical threshold is considered 80%; for Chamise 60%. There is no established critical threshold for coyote brush. Critical is defined as “the moisture content at which sustained, fast spreading, high intensity wildfires can occur.”

Learn more about Live Fuel Moisture and its importance in determining potential wildland fire behavior and relative fire danger...

Fire Safe San Mateo County, CAL FIRE, and Burlingame Partner on Mills Canyon Fuel Reduction Project

In Burlingame during the summer and fall of 2013, CAL FIRE hand crews will create a shaded fuel-break along the boundaries of Mills Canyon Park, providing a reduced fuel buffer zone between the park’s vegetation and neighboring homes. The objectives will be to disrupt the horizontal continuity of surface fuels, vertical continuity resulting from ladder fuels, and increase shrub and understory crown spacing in a shaded fuel break that will provide greater defensible space for most properties at the park’s boundaries.

Mills Canyon Shaded Fuel Break Project

Background

The project will be conducted in Mills Canyon, within the City limits of Burlingame, California. Treatment area will be between 10 and 18 acres. Elevation of the project area is approximately 2000 feet. Slopes are variable, ranging from near zero to over 50 percent. The north side of the canyon is in the City of Burlingame end the South side is in unincorporated San Mateo County. Property ownership within the project area is a mix of private lands in unincorporated San Mateo County and the City of Burlingame.

Project Description

The project will utilize hand crews to create a minimum 30’ shaded fuel break in the canyon that will extend approximately 2 miles around the Canyon. The objectives will be to disrupt the horizontal continuity of surface fuels, vertical continuity resulting from ladder fuels, and increase shrub and understory crown spacing. Woodland formations will be treated with a "thin from below” approach reducing surface and ladder fuels and increasing understory crown spacing. The lower limbs of “leave” trees will be pruned to a height of 6 to 8 feet. Cut material will generally be chipped and spread uniformly on-site or hauled away` invasive species treated having mature seed will not be chipped and spread onsite; instead it will be hauled off-site and disposed of properly or out and laid within exiting areas of infestation, lopped to a height of 12 inches or less. No trees over 6” dbh are proposed for removal, unless needed for access or safety reasons.

Vegetation in the project area is primarily Coast Live Oak, California Bay Laurel, Tanbark Oak, Madrone, Buckeye and Redwoods. Common shrubs include toyon, coastal sage, ceanothus, scrub oak, and coyote brush. Native grasses and wildflowers are also present. Non-native species include Acacia baileyana, ivy, and french broom.

Maintenance

Annual, recurring hand crew maintenance is planned for the proposed project.

NPS Highlights Fire Danger Predictions and Weather Stations in July 2013 Newsletter

The National Park Service's excellent "Fire and Fuels" newsletter for July 2013 highlights fire danger ratings and the weather and fuels monitoring system that helps fire managers predict relative fire danger. Of special interest to Fire Safe San Mateo County is the description of the Pulgas RAWS Station (Remote Automated Weather Station) collecting real-time data in San Mateo County.

From "Fire and Fuels News":

Each day during fire season, 3 weather stations are used to determine fire danger ratings for national parks in the S.F. and Bay Area Network Fire Program. These weather stations transmit data to computers which is then available to fire managers through the internet. Wind, temperature, relative humidity, slope and fuel moisture are used to predict the probability of ignition and potential energy that would be released by a fire on the following day. These factors are combined into a single measure which provides a fire danger rating of Low, Moderate, High, Very High or Extreme. The fire danger rating is used to adjust fire staffing levels and determine whether there will be any fire restrictions on park activities. The Remote Automated Weather Stations -- RAWS -- used to determine fire danger at Point Reyes National Seashore, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and Pinnacles National Park are far enough apart, that on some days the fire danger rating will be different for all 3 locations:

Mount Barnabe RAWS - located in Samuel P. Taylor State Park in Marin County at 810 feet elevation -- (** fire danger rating for all national park sites in Marin County)

Pulgas RAWS - located in the San Francisco Penninsula Watershed in San Mateo County at 644 feet elevation -- (** fire danger rating for all national park sites in San Francisco and San Mateo Counties)

Pinnacles RAWS located on the east side of Pinnacles National Park at 1300 feet elevation -- (** fire danger rating for Pinnacles National Park)

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