Home Safety Tips for a Safe and Healthy Winter

In the winter, more home fires are started by
heating equipment than any other cause.
But it is possible to be warm and safe this winter by following these tips.

Make sure your heater has been tested for safety.
Look on the bottom for a label such as ETL, UL or CSA.
Space heaters need to have plenty of space
around them.

Place space heaters at least three feet away from anything that can burn - including furniture, people, pets and curtains.

It's That Time of The Year

Weeds and undesirable plants have started to grow around the county. Now is the time to stop them before they grow, germinate and then turn to fuel for fires in the coming months.

Do your part to control these undesirables. Before they turn to fast burning fuels.

Undesirable Plant and Weed List

This list has been reproduced from the San Diego County Fire Chief's Association Wildland-Urban Interface Development Standards, June 1997 Revision, pages 35-36.
The following plants and weeds have been declared "undesirable" within the 100-foot Fuel Modification Zone surrounding all structures. All vegetation is listed alphabetically by botanical name, followed by the common name.

BOTANICAL NAME	COMMON NAME
Adenostoma Fasciculatum	Chamise
Adenostoma Sparsifolium	Red Shanks
Anthemix Cotula	Mayweed
Artemisia Californica	California Sagebrush
Arundo Donax	Giant Cane
Brassica Rapa	Wild Turnip, Yellow Mustard
Brassica Nigra	Black Mustard
Cardaria Draba	Hoary Cress, Perennial Peppergrass
Cirsium Vulgare	Wild Artichoke
Conyza Canadensis	Horseweed
Cortaderia Selloana	Pampas Grass
Cytisus Spp.	Scotch Broom, French Broom
Eriogonum Fasciculatum	Common Buckwheat
Heterotheca Grandiflora	Telegraph plant
Lactuca Serriola	Prickly Lettuce
Nicotiana Bigelovii	Indian Tobacco
Nicotiana Glauca	Tree Tobacco
Salsola Australis	Russian Thistle or Tumbleweed
Salvia Mellifera	Black Sage
Silybum Marianum	Milk Thistle
Tamarix Spp.	Tamarisk
Urtica Urens	Burning Nettle
Most species of Eucalyptus