Weed Abatement
Letter to Residents
Dear Resident,
We are in our weed abatement period and I feel that it is important that I reach out to you with a personal message to explain our process. There are two entities that are involved, Waterloo Morada Fire District and San Joaquin County Community Development Department (CDD). We follow the rules of CDD and act as their eyes in the field.
We have begun surveying all of the properties within our fire district and this is why you are receiving this notice. Your property was noticed to have an issue with weeds, if you have already taken care of the issue, disregard this notice.
We will come by again in approximately 14 days to re-survey, we will then see it has been taken care of and you will not receive a final notice. It is not necessary to contact the fire district to tell us it has been taken care of or is on a schedule to be taken care of.
For those who don’t mitigate their hazard before our final survey we will issue them a second notice and will conduct a third survey after 14 days. If the problem still exists after that time, we will forward the property information to CDD for follow up or enforcement.
The attached letter is from CDD and cites their legal authority. This letter must be presented to you by us so you receive notice of the process early on. By no means does this letter take effect unless you do nothing to mitigate an identified hazard and as I have explained we make every attempt to ensure the problem still exists before we forward it to CDD.
Sometimes we make a mistake and the weeds we notice are not on the property we think it is, if this is the case please feel free to contact us and we will send someone out to meet with you so the right person gets the notice, and I apologize in advance.
Respectfully,
Steve Henry
Fire Chief
We are in our weed abatement period and I feel that it is important that I reach out to you with a personal message to explain our process. There are two entities that are involved, Waterloo Morada Fire District and San Joaquin County Community Development Department (CDD). We follow the rules of CDD and act as their eyes in the field.
We have begun surveying all of the properties within our fire district and this is why you are receiving this notice. Your property was noticed to have an issue with weeds, if you have already taken care of the issue, disregard this notice.
We will come by again in approximately 14 days to re-survey, we will then see it has been taken care of and you will not receive a final notice. It is not necessary to contact the fire district to tell us it has been taken care of or is on a schedule to be taken care of.
For those who don’t mitigate their hazard before our final survey we will issue them a second notice and will conduct a third survey after 14 days. If the problem still exists after that time, we will forward the property information to CDD for follow up or enforcement.
The attached letter is from CDD and cites their legal authority. This letter must be presented to you by us so you receive notice of the process early on. By no means does this letter take effect unless you do nothing to mitigate an identified hazard and as I have explained we make every attempt to ensure the problem still exists before we forward it to CDD.
Sometimes we make a mistake and the weeds we notice are not on the property we think it is, if this is the case please feel free to contact us and we will send someone out to meet with you so the right person gets the notice, and I apologize in advance.
Respectfully,
Steve Henry
Fire Chief
FIRE HAZARD REDUCTION GUIDELINES
The following guide will assist you in complying with the requirements of the weed abatement program of
San Joaquin County and make your property "Fire Safe."
FIRE HAZARD: (Defined for the purpose of weed abatement). Generally, any dry grasses or weeds, that
when exposed to an ignition source, could ignite and-threaten or prove harmful to life, property, and or the
environment.
FIRE HAZARD REDUCTION: DRY GRASSES OR WEEDS, WHICH HA VE BEEN DEEMED A FIRE
HAZARD, SHALL BE ABATED AND KEPT ABATED THRDUGHOUT THE FIRE SEASON.
The time period designated as ''FIRE SEASON' begins May 1st and ends October 30th in San Joaquin County.
A DEFENDABLE SPACE shall be created around all structures, and other combustible properties and
property lines, using one or more of the acceptable methods outlined below. Defendable Space is an area
immediately adjacent to combustible properties, which has been cleared of combustibles, dry grasses and
weeds, to create and maintain a minimum firebreak.
The recognized MINIMUM FIREBREAK is generally as follows:
Properties LESS than 2 acres: The entire property to be abated.
Properties MORE than 2 acres: 30 foot firebreak around all structures and property lines. It is the option of the Fire District to abate the whole property when surrounding exposure warrants it. If you are in question, please contact your fire district. 10ft. firebreak around property lines and 30 foot around all structures and combustible exposures, (haystacks, barns, etc).
Pasture or Farm Land: 10 foot firebreak around property lines and 30 foot around all structures and combustible exposures, (haystacks, barns,etc)
Property owners are required to provide large firebreaks on properties that have limited access, insufficient water supply and contain a high fire load.
Note: The San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors has also adopted an ordinance requiring the property
owner to maintain the public right of way adjacent to their property free of tire hazards.
Acceptable methods of making firebreaks:
Discing or Rotor-tilling: (Preferred Method) Grasses and weeds may be disc or rotor-tilled to reduce
the hazard or to create a firebreak. Laying the weeds over with a drag device is not acceptable.
Cutting/Mowing: Grasses and weeds that have been cut or mowed must be REMOVED or
SPREAD so as not to present a fire hazard and the remaining vegetation growth shall be maintained at
"NO HIGHER THAN 4 INCHES".
PROPERTIES WITH LIVESTOCK: Grasses and weeds may be abated by the use of livestock.
However, all other firebreaks and defendable space guidelines still apply. A 10 ft. firebreak around
property lines is required, and it is still the option of the Fire District to abate weeds on properties where
the amount of animals on the property could not maintain a reasonably safe fire condition.