HELP US IMPROVE OUR CHIPPER PROGRAM

RESERVE YOUR PICK UP TODAY

The Chipper Program is a fuel reduction program to help decrease our community threat from wildfire.

With a Woodside-Portola Valley Fire Protection Foundation grant, a chipper and truck were purchased

The Chipping Program is funded through the partnership between the Town of Portola Valley, Town of Woodside and Woodside Fire. Together we are working to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire by decreasing the amount of vegetation fuel.

The program goal is to assist residents in maintaining defensible space around their homes.  

With the adoption of Fuel Mitigation Ordinance 24-01, and implementation of home assessments, Woodside Fire strongly encourages the opportunity to take advantage of our annual FREE Chipper Program.

The WFPD Chipper Program runs from May through November.

New for 2025!

We Need Your Help to make this Service More Successful

To make our Chipper Program more efficient and ensure timely service, we kindly ask you to reserve your pickup in advance. This will help us schedule routes effectively and provide better service to everyone.  MAKE A RESERVATION for the Chipping Program to schedule service.

Why Reserve?

✔ Ensures your brush is collected on time
✔ Helps us manage resources efficiently
✔ Allows us more time to focus on community engagement and fire protection projects such as:

• Maintaining evacuation right-of-way routes
• Testing and maintaining hydrants
• Fuel mitigation work in high-risk areas within the fire district

✔ Collects valuable data on participation, piles, and vegetation chipped 

By tracking this data, we can demonstrate our community’s commitment to fuel reduction and wildfire preparedness, which is beneficial for Firewise communities and strengthens our applications for grants that support fire safety initiatives.

Resident Benefits with the new changes:

• We will not miss your pile; it will be in our system that you have a pile and that is yours and not someone else's.
• We will be able to gather the number of residents that participated in your community in the chipping program.
• We will be able to collect data such as (how many piles, quantity chipped) and report those numbers at the end of the season. This is valuable information, especially for Firewise communities.

What You Need to Know:

1. Sign-Up Is Required: To receive chipping services, you must register in advance.
2. Notification Process: Once you sign up, you will be notified of your pick-up date via email. You can also opt-in for text notifications.
3. If there are two pickups available, you can only sign up for 1 at a time. Once you have your first pick up, you can then go back and sign-up for your second pick up.
4. No More Mailers: Mailers will no longer be sent to remind residents of pick-up dates.
5. Home Assessment Reports: If you receive a home assessment report in the coming months, your pick-up date will be included in the report.

Your participation makes a big difference! Thank you for helping keep our community safe and working together to protect our fire district.

Program Rules

• Lay all vegetation in your pile the same way with the base of the branch or plant facing toward the street (so that it can be easily picked up and placed in the chipper) at the curb by 8am Monday morning.  
• Material in excess of 8” in diameter cannot be chipped.
• Your pile must not exceed 20 feet (L) x 5 feet (H). If you have limited spacing 10 feet (L) x 10 feet (H) is allowed.  (total max allowable per parcel 100 square feet of chipping material)
• Piles with unpermitted items or any portion of a pile greater than 20x5 feet may be left behind and will become the resident’s responsibility to remove.
• Your pile must be within 5’ of a place where the truck can access the pile and turn around on a road.
• Do not place piles where they are blocking a roadway, driveway, or pedestrian path or within 10 feet of a utility pole or fire hydrant. 
• Please do not stack trimmings on dry grass, or next to trees, brush or structures.
• WE DO NOT HAUL AWAY: Brush will be chipped back on site with the exception of certain areas. It is the responsibility of the homeowner to pull back chips and spread, or to remove them. 
•  Please do not bag or tie up your vegetation.
• Preferably piles should be on the uphill side of the drive or road if there is a slope.
• Piles may not be placed behind fences, closed gates or other similar objects.

Please note: Only ONE PILE PER RESERVATION is permitted.

The chipping will be conducted by the Woodside Fire Fuel Mitigation Crew.  

WE ask that piles are not set out more than 7 days prior to your scheduled chipping day to limit the amount of fire fuel load on evacuation routes.

PLEASE make a Reservation, in order to receive your pickup date here. 

You will be notified of your pickup date 30 days prior.

*Pre-registration is required* You must sign up in order to get a pickup!

If you have any questions or would like to provide any updates regarding your pile, please email chippercrew@woodsidefire.gov

Please be sure to let us know if you need to cancel by managing your reservation.

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