Chipping Day helps make Fallbrook fire safe

FALLBROOK – The Fallbrook Fire Safe Council sponsored a "chipping day" Saturday, March 16, in the open area at the corner of Alturas Road and West Aviation Road from 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

The event supports the Council's community outreach program of creating a venue for local residents to bring their cut vegetation to a central site for disposal and ultimately supporting the effort to help make Fallbrook fire safe.

Throughout the event, more than 24 residents from the Fallbrook, Bonsall, De Luz and Rainbow areas took advantage of this free event. They brought more than 43 truck and trailer loads of branches, trimmed brush, palm branches and other cut vegetation from their properties to have chipped/shredded into mulch.

One of the participants, John Duling, said, "This event provides an opportunity to help clear out areas in the canyons and areas around my property to help prevent a recurrence of the 2002 Gavlin fire where I lost my home. I appreciate what the council is doing for the community."

The event was supported through the efforts of 12 volunteers from U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton who dedicated their time and energy.

As Sgt. Jacob Zarzycki, one of the volunteers, said, "It was a blast doing it. We had a great group of Marines and you guys were awesome. Thank you for giving us the opportunity."

A total of over 1,200 cubic feet of chipped/shredded material was collected and has been transferred to the San Diego Recycle Center in Clairemont for processing into processed mulch that will be distributed throughout San Diego County. Additionally, over 500 cubic feet of trash was collected and removed from the property. This material was taken to the local EDCO Disposal Services facility for disposal. The Marine volunteers also trimmed approximately 5,000 square feet of weeds and brush on the property to help reduce the fire potential.

This is the second event sponsored by the Fire Safe Council this year after sponsoring six such events in the last 16 months. The council is planning on sponsoring several more chipping events in the early summer and fall seasons.

Once these dates and locations are finalized, information will be provided to the public. So be sure to watch for these dates and mark your calendars to take advantage of these free events to help residents dispose of cut/trimmed vegetation and help make Fallbrook fire safe.

The event was supported by a grant from the San Diego Regional Fire Foundation and SDG&E. The council also acknowleges the property owner, Northwest Building LLC in Kirkland, Washington, for allowing the event to take place on their property; California Tree Services in Vista for providing the chipper and crew; the volunteer sheriff's team for assisting in traffic control; Fallbrook Rentals for the use of their equipment and EDCO Disposal Services for the timely delivery and pickup of the container.

The Fire Safe Council is a nonprofit organization that meets the first Thursday of each month at the North County Fire Protection District's offices at 330 Main St. at 9 a.m. Visitors are welcome. Also, follow the council's events, visit http://fallbrookfiresafecouncil.org.

Submitted by Fallbrook Fire Safe Council.