Guidelines for Chipper Piles
Piles must be stacked and placed according to the following general guidelines. Please review the guidelines below before you create your chipping pile(s). When your piles are complete, take digital photos of your pile(s) to submit along with your application.
How do I make a chipping pile?
Piles must be no more than 4-feet tall, 10-feet wide, and with rows no longer than 50-feet.
Materials should be between 3 to 10-feet long. The chipper can chip branches up to 10 inches across (diameter). It is quicker for the crew to chip one 10-foot branch than multiple short lengths. For reference, it takes about 1 hour for the crew to chip a pile 50-feet long, 4-feet tall, and 10-feet wide.
Piles must be stacked with the cut ends facing the same direction, pointing towards the access route, preferably on the uphill side.
Do not use large equipment, such as tractors or bobcats, to stack piles.
What is allowed in the chipper pile?
The chipper project is intended for trees and brush cut to create or maintain defensible space. The chipper can handle trees or brush up to 10-inches in diameter and up to 10-feet long. Freshly cut and stacked materials chip much better than old, dry wood. If your piles have been in place for a long time and/or contain a lot of old, dry material, our crews may not be able to chip them.
What is NOT allowed in the chipper pile?
Chipper piles may NOT contain the following, and participants will be responsible for disposing of any unchipped materials:
No tree or shrub logs larger than 10 inches across (diameter)
No tree or shrub logs longer than 10 feet
No nails, wires, or any metal pieces!
No roots or stumps
No Poison Oak or other poisonous species
No vines or materials entangled with vines
No Oleander (poisonous plant)
No bamboo or fibrous materials such as palm tree fronds
No plants with thorns including roses and blackberries
No Scotch/French broom or gorse
No construction-type wood (Example: fence posts or 2x4s)
No rocks, dirt, and/or mud
No rakings or piles of needles, leaves, and/or grass
No fire debris, burned logs, branches, or trees from past fires
No firewood or logs cut into wood rounds
No wood older than one year
No failed burn piles or burned wood
No plants known to be infected by Sudden Oak Death
How many piles can I request free chipping service for?
There is no limit to the number of piles an applicant can request chipping services for. If the applicant has multiple piles in different locations, or with significantly different access instructions, then the applicant should submit a separate application for each location. If the piles are located near each other and the instructions for accessing those piles is the same, then applicants can use a single application to request chipping service. Note that splitting material into multiple piles is required for large volumes of material, as pile size restrictions apply. See “How do I make a chipper pile?”
Where should I place my pile so that the crew can easily get to it?
Piles should be placed along road or driveway frontages so that crews can work safely without the need for additional personnel, signage, or road closure permits. The crew will not chip piles that are more than 10-feet from an accessible road or driveway unless access is safe and the turnaround of equipment is easily managed. Special accommodations may be provided upon request. Please indicate in your application if they are needed. The chipper cannot go up very steep slopes.
Please follow these general guidelines:
Do not place piles where they might block roadways or access.
Do not put piles within 10-feet of power poles.
The chipper and truck must be able to get to a place they can turn around.
Place piles within 10-feet of chipper access, preferably on the uphill side of the road or driveway. Crews should not have to drive off the driveway or work around obstructions.
If our chipper cannot access your piles, your application will be denied. Please indicate on your application, if this is your situation and work with your Fire Safe Council to find alternative options.
Disposal of any unchipped material is the responsibility of the property owner.
If the location of each chipper pile does not follow these general guidelines, applicants are asked to describe why not, and a decision will be made to accept or deny services. Piles that are deemed to be inaccessible will be denied.
Where are chips deposited?
All material chipped will be blown back onto the property in a place the crew deems practical and safe. The applicant is responsible for spreading out the piles of chips.
If the applicant wishes the chips be blown into a specific location at the chipping site, they can indicate that in the application. The crew will do their best to meet the request.
For applicants who do not have space on their property for the chips, or for whom the chips would pose a fire threat, they may want to arrange for chips to be blown into a truck bed and hauled off-site. The crew is not responsible for providing trucks for this purpose.
What is a fire-safe way to use the chips on my property?
Once the vegetation has been chipped, you may want to use those chips on your landscaping. Here are some suggestions about fire-safe ways to use the chips on your property. Chips are flammable and can carry fire to your home if placed improperly. Chips pose less of a fire risk if placed 30 feet away from structures, spread thinly (less than 1 inch deep) on the ground, and placed in patches or islands separated by nonflammable surfaces.