Recently the week before closing escrow on a property in San Rafael we received a vegetation hazard notice from the San Rafael Fire Department on the front door. SRFD wanted to inspect the entire property, but since nobody was home they only inspected the front and checked off three separate violation boxes on the back of the notice. I’ve never received such a notice before, but I understand SRFD did not single us out because the house was on the market. SRFD is currently going house to house in Terra Linda doing these inspections. If you own a home in San Rafael don’t be surprised if SRFD comes knocking with a violation checklist at the ready.
Before we went on the market, we cleared out a lot of vegetation in the front and back yards, much of it was tall dead grass that was an obvious fire hazard. Two of our violations were not so obvious. The numbers on the front of the house are only 3 inches tall, and need to be at least 4 inches. That’s an easy fix and new owners often want to put their own style numbers on the front of their house anyway. Also, the gutters had some leaves in them, and other leaves had fallen in front of the house. It’s no longer just recommended that you keep your gutters clear and yard clean, it’s the law.
The third violation was having a tree within 10 feet of the chimney. I didn’t even know that was a potential violation, but it makes sense. The tree in question was a liquid amber, which are extremely common in San Rafael. They aren’t an extreme fire hazard like junipers, bamboo and Italian cypress, which are now outlawed according to a handout from SRFD. I can see calling those trees out, but fire safety is going much deeper now. If you are in the wildland urban interface zone your property needs to come into compliance today. If not, you have until April of next year, but the handouts from SRFD make it seem like everyone must comply now. I understand. We need to protect our homes and community, and it’s not a bad thing to be doing it now anyway, especially during another historic fire season.
You might be reading this and thinking it’s government overreach. Keep your hands off my junipers! I understand that point of view, however we are at a point in time as a society where we are going to need to follow more essential rules to keep everyone safe. It’s not just fire safety either. Water conservation is no longer an option. Marin may run out of water next year if we have another winter like the last one, and MMWD doesn’t have a solid backup plan in place. If you are like me, you are becoming numb to the news, there’s just so much chatter out there in the media. But these are real, basic, and potentially catastrophic threats to our way of life.
At this point we don’t have a choice. Compliance is mandatory, and it’s the right thing to do.