Glendale Fire Department Hosts Fire Preparedness Event Saturday

GLENDALE (CBSLA) - A local fire department has received help from the state to help boost fire prevention and awareness in the community.

The Glendale Fire Department unveiled its new fire prevention and preparedness trailer Saturday at Fire Station 23.

The new trailer contains brush clearing tools that residents can check out, much like books at the library, to help clear unwanted scrub from their property, as well as learn what exactly the city guidelines and requirements are for fire prevention.

Along with today's educational booths, crews and volunteers will clear some nearby brush, Battalion Chief Jeff Ragusa, with the Glendale Fire Department, said.

"Well, a collaborative effort with California Fire Safe Council and California Conservation Corp., we're starting up north on the canyon and we're working with the community members who volunteered, as well as the groups I just mentioned, to clear brush about 20 feet from the road, working your way down here to Station 23," said Ragusa.

Officials identified the particular area being cleared as outside one of the normal areas they inspect and enforce, but an area also considered a threat.

"So, we got the community together to try and make this area little more safe," the chief said.

The point of the trailer and the event, according to Ragusa, is to do outreach in the community and educate residents on creating defensible space within their properties.

"It's what we can do in the community, in our neighborhoods to lessen the threat of wildfires during these times," Ragusa said.

Fire officials ask that residents clear scrub and brush 100 feet back from homes. Anything that's not green should be cleared and vegetation should be space out properly.

"We have a lot of information on our website - Glendalefire.org - which goes into detail and the specifics that we're looking for, but basically with wildfires getting increasingly worse year after year, we're trying to create a buffer in the home in order to try and prevent the spread of wildfire from our urban interface to our structure," the chief said.

Proper scrub and brush clearance is also key for allowing fire personnel to get in the area, in case of a fire, and defend the home.

Volunteers interested in clearing brush today can go to Station 23 in Glendale, between 8 a.m. and 12 p.m. to help in the clearing effort. The department will provide tools.