Fire Department

violations decided to mitigate their properties this year – instead of waiting until next season to meet compliance statutes. The Northstar Fire Department greatly appreciates your efforts in reducing the fire hazards to your property as well as to your surrounding neighbors. For those property owners that chose not to complete their mitigation work (correcting all violations) this season, the Northstar Fire Department would like to remind you that you have until October 1st, 2021 of next season, to bring your properties under compliance. Typically, property owners are only given 30 days to comply and bring their properties under compliance. However, in light of the pandemic, homeowners were granted an extra twelve months to comply. The fire department will return to all properties that in violation of the defensible space codes/ statutes in the Spring of 2021. If we find a property to be out of compliance after October 1st, 2021, the fire department will have no other recourse but to begin enforcement proceedings. To see a copy of our District's Defensible Space ordinance (NCSD #35-19) and discover Abatement and Enforcement proceedings, What is allowed and not allowed when

https://www.northstarcsd.org/fire-codes. Northstar's Seasonal Burn Ban is in effect.

Defensible Space Inspections & Mitigation Work Coming To An End

The Northstar Fire Department is finishingup its defensible space compliance inspecting and enforcing for the 2020 Over 350 properties were inspected for compliance. And, the fire department discovered that many of the owners who were found to have defensible space

please go to the following web address: Season. It was a very productive season.

The fire department highly recommends that you contact a contractor at the BEGINNING OF NEXT SEASON (as early as May of 2021) to make sure that they can perform the mitigation work in time to meet the deadline.

If you'd like to find out more information regarding defensible space, please consider going to our website at https:// www.northstarcsd.org/defensible-space. Defensible space mitigation work is different than the periodic work that an owner hires a landscaper to perform. Feel free to contact the fire department as well.

Lastly, we would like to let the property owners on the following streets know that you will be a part of next year's 2021 focus area: Basque Drive, Skidder Trail, Wolf Tree, White Fire, Conifer, Lodgepole, Bitter Brush, and Whistle Punk. The fire department will inspect all properties on the aforementioned streets, and owners will be given 30 days to bring their properties under compliance should they have violations that must be corrected.

Seasonal Burn Ban Should Be Lifted Hopefully Soon!

On June 15th, 2020, the Seasonal Burn Ban went into effect. The ban legally prohibits the burning of solid fuels regardless if you are a single/ multi-family residence or commercial property/business. Usually, the burn ban is lifted each year in late October or early November. Continue to check the Northstar Fire Department website to discover when the burn ban is lifted.

Important! If you are a Short Term Rental Owner… Placer County has permanently banned all outdoor solid fuel burning yearround (365 days) for all Short-Term Rentals (STR). At no time (regardless of the day, month or time of the year) is a STR allowed to burn solid fuels. For more information regarding this STR requirement, please visit www.placer.ca.gov/6109/Short-TermRental-Program.

For more information regarding our District's unique burn restrictions, please visit www.northstarcsd.org/ BurnRestrictions.

Fire Department to begin Short Term Rental (STR) Fire & Life Safety Inspections

The Northstar Fire Department is gearing up to begin performing Fire & Life Safety Inspections of Short-Term Rentals sometime in December or January this winter.

Placer County passed a Short-Term Rental (STR) Ordinance that includes Northstar. The ordinance requires the Northstar Fire Department perform one fire & life safety inspection on all STRs every three years. There are approximately 800 STRs in our District.

The lack of a fire & life safety inspection will not hold up the STR permit process. The owner can still rent out the home AS LONG AS they receive such an inspection before March 31st, 2023. If a fire & life safety inspection has not been performed by this date, the STR owner's permit will not be renewed, and the property can't be rented as an STR.

To request a fire & life safety inspection of your STR, please visit www.northstarcsd. org/ShortTermRentalInformation. Once you are signed up, an inspector will contact you to schedule an appointment. The inspector should be contacting you sometime in December 2020 or January of 2021. Inspections will be scheduled in the order they were received.

Preparing for Indoor Fires

As the temperatures begin to cool and the possibility of those late-Fall, coldweathered storms taking shape, October is always a good month to prep your indoor fireplace so that you can safely conduct those routine fires during the cold, blustery days. Have you had your fireplace and chimney inspected by a licensed contractor to check for an unsafe amount of creosote build-up in your chimney's flue? Have you examined the firebox and looked for any cracks, gaps, or signs of wear in the lining? How are the doors or the screen that prevents embers from escaping the fireplace look? Is your fireplace grate the right size or in need of replacing? A chimney fire can be very scary and destructive, so please take the time to make sure your fireplace (or, wood stove) is in good working condition.