Park City Fire Marshal Mike Owens says there’s still time for people to take advantage of his department’s yard care service.
“Basically,” he says, “what we do is, if you as a homeowner have some wood or some bushes that you've pulled out, or you've trimmed off your trees, that need to be taken care of, we'll come by — we'll turn that wood into chips, and then we'll take it away. So it's a free service, and it gives people a way to get rid of the waste that otherwise is pretty difficult to handle.”
After chipping, the crews don’t generally leave chips behind. Owens says the resulting product usually isn’t of a high enough quality for people to repurpose. But he says when crews do find chips of good quality, they sometimes leave them in piles in front of their administrative building on Bitner Road.
Crews go neighborhood by neighborhood, which they’re able to plan by requiring people to register.
He says what began as an informal service with just a couple of crew members now has heavy demand. Last year, firefighters picked up 850 piles, and even before the opt-in deadline this year, they’re expecting to collect more than 1,100.
Owens says he thinks that may be happening more frequently as a result of people giving more care to their homes since the pandemic. He also believes people may be more inclined toward fire mitigation practices since the Parleys Canyon Fire.
People should place their piles within 5 feet of the street. Piles shouldn’t be larger than 8 feet long by 8 feet wide by 6 feet tall and shouldn’t have trash in them, or the crews won’t take them. They also won’t help people to gather the wood into piles.
Monday, which is Labor Day, is the last day to opt in, which requires online registration.
A link to do so can be found at pcfd.org.
