Marin County firefighters will soon begin a wildfire preparedness project, aimed at protecting nearly two thousand properties in several communities surrounding Mount Tamalpais.
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The goal is to mitigate fire risk in a populated basin that surrounds Mount Tamalpais. The Ross Valley shaded fuel break will stretch from Corte Madera to Fairfax. Marin County Wildfire Prevention Authority Director Mark Brown said it's designed to keep flames from spreading to homes and provide access for firefighters.
"Along the backs of the property lines budding the open space across the entire Ross Valley between 200 to 300 feet vegetation clearance, but not total removal," Brown explained. "We will be leaving behind healthy mature trees, native vegetation."
Marin County Fire Department Chief Jason Webber said work crews clearing land might actually perform their work on private property.
"They could get a knock on their door, maybe a theoretical know maybe a letter in the mail asking if we could do work on the property in order to reduce the threat," Webber told KCBS Radio. "If the backside of their property is adjacent to other homes it may not be a critical threat to their own structure but it certainly could be beneficial to the neighbors, and that’s really what this is about."
It's an ambitious effort and will likely require teams of arborists and land-clearing crews. The funding comes from a voter-approved property tax measure that created the Marin County Wildfire Prevention Authority.
Work on the fuel break is set to begin this summer and continue for two to three years.
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