The Portola Firewise Community is hosting a yard waste clean-up event on Saturday June 6th from 8:00-12:00PM. We are seeking volunteers to help load residential green waste and haul it to IMD’s green waste facility in Delleker. The event is supported by the Northern Sierra AQMD’s “free green waste month” for City of Portola residents, which lasts throughout June to help remove pine needles and woody waste from residential properties. The Plumas County Fire Safe Council is providing its tool trailer for use during the event and the Portola Rotary will provide lunch afterward to volunteers. The lunch will include pulled pork sandwiches, chicken salad sandwiches, coleslaw, potato salad, fruit cups, and drinks. Donuts will also be served for volunteers starting at 7:30 AM.
In addition to the tool trailer, the PCFSC will also offer a limited number of home hardening assessments to folks who sign up for a yard clean up. All work accomplished on June 6th, and the preparation leading up to it, can be tracked in the NFPA Firewise Portal for our community. Each Firewise community must meet a certain number of Risk Reduction Investment hours or dollars annually to maintain the certification status. For a community the size of Portola the Risk Reduction Investment amount is $31,032.68 or $34.79 per residential dwelling.
I’ve attached a flyer with a QR code to sign up for volunteering or green waste removal. We only ask that the residents live within the City of Portola limits as this is the boundary for both the Firewise community as well as the Northern Sierra’s USEPA’s Targeted Airshed Grant-funded green waste disposal program.
Residents interested in having their green waste hauled away can sign up online using the QR code or call the air district at 530-832-0102 ext. 3, making sure to leave a voice message. Our goal is to create two volunteer teams. One that can rake, pile, cut, and otherwise gather green waste materials for folks who need that assistance. The other group will gather premade piles at the end of the driveway or property for those who sign up for curbside pile pickup. We ask that branches be separated from pine needles and cones. Ideally, we will finalize all participating community members by Friday May 29th.
The team will meet at the City Park (near the pool parking lot) around 7:30 AM on June 6th with donuts for volunteers. Please bring your own gloves and PPE although the City of Portola may have some PPE to provide as needed. Please come out and join us for an active outdoor morning supporting neighborhood efforts to reduce fire hazard risks or sign up for our volunteer teams to haul your green waste piles away at no cost to you!
Our next Firewise meeting is this Thursday at 6:00 PM at the Portola Library where we will focus entirely on event planning. If you are curious or have any questions, we would love to see you there! We are always looking for more regular volunteers to join our Firewise leadership group as well.
