When winter storms hit Atascadero, they brought large amounts of rainfall and flooding, but the impact of the rain will be felt a bit further into the future than most residents anticipate, according to Dave Van Son
“Last year, Atascadero Fire sent out approximately 3,000 notices to parcel owners stating that they were not in compliance with our weed abatement ordinance,” the Atascadero Fire Department’s battalion chief said. “This year, we have sent over 5,000.”
Van Son told New Times they have faced unprecedented issues regarding the city-wide weed abatement ordinance—adding to a growing list of issues the department is contending with as it enters into dry season.
While vegetation abatement is something the department deals with every year, this year in particular has garnered more attention from the department due to the sheer number of property owners not cutting down their overgrown weeds.
“There are areas within Atascadero that are in designated High or Very High Fire Severity Zones,” Van Son said. “Because of that, we are pretty strict with enforcing our vegetation management ordinances, especially our weed abatement ordinance.”
The ordinance requires that properties have weeds that are no taller than 4 inches year-round—with more specific requirements that they cut 100 feet around all structures, 50 feet around the entire property line and any roads, and 10 feet off driveways.
“There have been serval instances over the years where vegetation fires have started along the roadside and crept into a parcel that had complied with the ordinance,” Van Son said. “Thanks to that compliance, the fire slowed enough to allow our fire engines to arrive and extinguish it before the fire got out of control.”
He stressed to New Times that as native grasses have grown taller—leading to higher chances of wildfire breakout—complying with the weed abatement program will be paramount to preventing fires from spreading into residential neighborhoods.
“By cutting the weeds before the beginning of fire season, parcel owners create a defensible space around their property, which helps not only protect it but gives firefighters a better chance to extinguish the fire quicker,” Van Son said.
However, the department is sympathetic to the increased amount of vegetation that will need to be cleared by parcel owners, and Van Son emphasized that there’s still plenty of time to comply and prepare the city for the dry season.
“I believe that the long rainy season hindered residents’ ability to cut their weeds early in the spring—as most of them usually do—but as the rain subsides there is still time to comply,” he said. “Re-inspections of the 5,000-plus parcels that received letters begin June 1. As long as the weeds are cut down to under 4 inches before the re-inspection, they will be fine.” Δ
This article appears in Best Of SLO County 2023.