Brush removal project helps to heat the home by creating a source of firewood
Angwin, California (Napa County)

For those of you out there wondering how to finance your brush removal project without breaking the bank, we have a solution for you.

Recently, on a defensible space / brush removal project in Angwin, California (Napa County), we worked with the homeowner to reduce the hazardous brush accumulations in the defensible space zone by converting the removed tree logs into firewood rounds. The rest of the bows and branches were run through the wood chipper and shot back out onto the landscape as a mulch covering. I’ll get into the mulch covering later.

Primarily though, the conversion of removed trees and large brush logs into firewood saved a lot of money. The time it takes for a person to pick up and remove the log to the chipper is not only time consuming but tiring. By changing the physical shape of the material, we were able to eliminate unnecessary hauling time to and from the chipper. In addition, this allowed our personnel to pick up the pace of brush removal and chipping thus resulting in a quicker project completion timeframe.

Another great benefit to this was that the homeowner was left with a large volume of firewood to use in his wood stove. The use of the wood stove is the primary heating source for the homeowner who is also on a fixed “retirement” income.

In these cases, Firescape can utilize out of the box thinking to assist the homeowner. It is very important for us as a company to think of ways to make the project less expensive, more environmentally friendly and safer.

Lets follow up on a benefit mentioned earlier in this blog. Mulch covering. Homeowners are always asking if wood chips will make a wildfire worse. The answer is maybe. The subject is quite deep and is worthy of its own blog at a later date. However, what I wanted to bring up now is that when we shot the wood chips back out onto the landscape where we removed or thinned brush, it provided a ground cover that will surely retard the growth of annual grasses. This will, in the spring of 2008, save the homeowner even more money in grass cutting savings.

Just remember, that as the price of natural gas and electricity goes up, your wildfire “brush” problem may turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Be sure to come back soon to read a discussion about wood stoves and air quality.

Happy Holidays and remember, Wildfire Safety does not start during fire season. It is an annual, every day event!

Article by:
Firescape LLC
Cary Gloeckner