Mobile Chipper Contractor Makes Grant Work Easier

Many homeowners groups are applying for Fire Safe Council Grant money in order to tackle a growing wildfire problem. These groups should focus on projects that will build a sense of community while at the same time delivering a valuable service. The idea is one of the best project ideas I have seen so far. Apply for grant money that will be used to fund mobile chipping days. A second part of this plan is needed in order to make it successful. That is at least two educational seminars lasting about two hours. First, lets go over the general idea and way that the program should be run.

In order to build a sense of community you must get most of the community involved with working together. The plan is this. First step, organize and plan for two educational meetings that will cover defensible space building and planning, plant species to use, plant species to avoid, how to trim and limb-up trees and how to get their homes assessed for wildfire risk. During these two, duplicate educational seminars, you will unvail the grant program details and how the money will be spent plus you will deliver the nuts and bolts of how to and what to do for a proper defensible space.

After educating the group on how to build the defensible space and teaching them the benefits of doing the work, you must then get them focused on the financial benefits to them if they help out the community by creating their own defensible space. That is to say that they will then be able to get rid of all their brush for free. This, is the main point of the grant. To chip and remove brush!

You must educate really drive home the fact that if the homeowner were to hire Brand X Tree service to come out and chip their little bit of brush and limbs that it would be much, much more expensive. If they use the grant money, they are getting free chipping. Also, the entire community benefits from this in that the overall volume of brush and limbs will be decreased thus lessening the impacts of wildfire.

Finally, the homeowners really will have two choices. One, do nothing and risk getting forced later by CALFIRE or their local fire department to abate the brush and limb hazards at their own cost. Again, Brand X will charge about $700 just for a half day of chipping. Under your grant plan it is free. Second choice is to go with the free chipping through the grant program. Here at Firescape, we usually charge between $1000 and $1500 per 8 hour day for mobile chipping services. The price depends on how many personnel we include with the chipper. Generally, I will take two personnel with me so that they can chip the brush and limbs and I may continue promoting the grant program, educating them on the finer points of what they should continue cutting and how to create the defensible space.

Keep in mind, we are facing the potential of hyper inflation in the coming months and years resulting in significant price fluctuations. So, when writing the grant, work with someone who will lock in a price per day for chipping services to potentially be rendered a year or more later.

Any questions, call Cary at Firescape LLC. (707) 894-2008