LAMORINDA WEEKLY | Masses of junipers removed from Campo development before fire season | Moraga


Photo Sora O'Doherty

The Campolindo Firewise community has been actively assisting member residents to rid their property of fuels that will have to be removed to meet the new fire code, which specifies that juniper bushes and bamboo within 10 feet of all public and private roads must be removed by the end of next year. Junipers, sometimes nicknamed "green gas cans," are known to be highly fire prone.??

According to block captain Steve Hoyt, there are 402 homes in the Campolindo Firewise group, with near complete coverage of the community. The objective of their group is to improve emergency preparedness of the neighborhood, such as encouraging residents to prepare go bags, obtain emergency supplies, and improve the fire defensibility of their homes. The Campolindo group has 30 block captains, each responsible for 10-15 homes. The Firewise group is associated with FireWise USA, a program of the National Fire Protection Association, that encourages local solutions for safety by involving homeowners in taking individual responsibility for preparing their homes from wildfire risk; it is not associated with the Campolindo Homeowners Association.

About 17 homeowners took advantage of an offer arranged by the Firewise group to use Wildland Corporation to remove unwanted plants, mostly junipers, in February, ahead of the deadline imposed by the revised Moraga-Orinda Fire District Fire Code. Homeowner Raj Rikhy plans to replace the extensive juniper planting with artificial turf and dark wood chips.??He won't miss the rats that came with the juniper. Gorden Graham, MOFD fuels mitigation manager, and Dennis Rein, MOFD emergency preparedness coordinator, were on hand to support the effort.