Final MSFC Report for 2006 Grant

Can you believe the grant we worked with this year was given to us in 2006? Here's a final recap of the work performed in The Meadows these past few months.

The Meadows FireSafe Council worked with two different vendors to complete our fuel reduction project. The first part of the project was fuel reduction in 26 acres of undeveloped land adjacent to the 240 homes in the Meadows community. This work entailed the use of hand
crews to trim up bushes, clear brush, and cut down dead tree limbs.

The second part of the project took place within the developed land as 39 homes were identified as having trees that would pose a risk to the community in the event of a fire. The second vendor removed 72 trees of various sizes. These trees were selected using a criteria of those preventing access for fire department vehicles, dead and diseased trees, and fire−prone trees.

Lincoln Ave Water has completed their yearly brush clearance.

Captain Don Edwards of Camp 2 of LACoFD removed dead trees, skirted up live trees and removed three other trees to reduce fire risk to the homes in the Meadows.

Our dedicated group of volunteers continued to meet monthly and provide education to the community on the MFSC activities by handing out fliers and posting signs around the neighborhood. FSC members have also coordinated and supervised the work crews on a daily basis. In all, this portion of the project took approximately 9 weeks to complete with workers here in The Meadows daily.

We heard from many neighbors asking about tree trimming and further assessments. Since the grant funds were finite, the MFSC focused on the removal of trees as being the best use of the funds.

A new grant has been awarded to the MFSC for TWICE as much as the 2006 grant! We expect this new project will begin in late 2008 at the earliest. It's difficult to give a specific date as grant monies are metered out as they are received by the larger California FireSafe Council.

It is expected that we will continue to perform brush clearance, tree removal and hopefully tree trimming. In addition, an alert system has been built into the new grant budget. We will explore setting up a system in which neighbors can be called, emailed, texted, etc. in the event of an emergency.

Stay tuned for more news on this exciting next step. We continue to welcome more volunteers to the Meadows FireSafe Council and more involvement of our neighborhood.