Past Projects

FIRE SAFE San Mateo County and our partners have completed fuel reduction projects across the county for more than two decades. This page documents representative completed work. For current activity, see Our Projects.

San Mateo County Parks

The county's Parks Department manages 16 parks, three regional trails, and other facilities totaling more than 15,000 acres, from coastal mountain woodland to urban sites. In 2012 and 2013, CAL FIRE hand crews constructed extensive shaded fuel breaks in Wunderlich Park and Huddart Park, reducing fuel loads along the wildland edge of adjacent Woodside-area neighborhoods. More on the County Parks projects.

Highlands Fuel Break

Partners worked for several years with the Highlands Recreation District on a fuel break protecting the Highlands subdivision in unincorporated San Mateo, adjacent to 40 acres of county open space, using Ben Lomond Conservation Camp fire crews to cut, pile, and burn vegetation. The fuel break follows a historic stagecoach road that separates the open space from a residential area that is architecturally significant as one of the largest contiguous developments of Eichler homes.

Town of Hillsborough: Open Space Vegetation Management

Beginning in 2013, Hillsborough's Open Space Vegetation Management Project used CAL FIRE hand crews and contractors to create roughly 20 acres of defensible space zones between eight town-owned open space areas and neighboring homes, with additional fuel reduction across approximately 88 acres of High Priority Fire Management Areas within the town's 240 acres of open space. More on the Hillsborough project.

City of Burlingame: Mills Canyon Shaded Fuel Break

CAL FIRE hand crews created a shaded fuel break of roughly two miles along the boundaries of Mills Canyon Park, disrupting surface fuel continuity and ladder fuels to give properties at the park's edge a full complement of defensible space. More on the Mills Canyon project.

Crystal Springs Watershed

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission conducts wildfire fuel reduction annually on the 23,000-acre Peninsula Watershed, which supplies drinking water to 2.4 million people and borders several San Mateo County communities. The SFPUC has partnered with FIRE SAFE San Mateo County for decades and holds a seat on our board. More on the watershed program.