No-Cost Chipping Program

How it works

The No-Cost Chipping Program provides chipping services for neighborhoods and individual homeowners in Ventura County free of charge. The goal is to reduce flammable fuel load and increase weed abatement in communities bordering wildland-urban interface threat zones.

VRFSC offers two types of chipper events:

• Curbside Chipper Days: Residents in a pre-designated neighborhood register their address, do their own yardwork, and place ready-to-chip vegetation in a neatly formed stack at the end of the driveway. On the event day, a crew drives by with a chipper and chips the material. The chips may either be hauled away or left on site, depending on what is decided before the event.
• Drop-off Chipper Events: VRFSC sets up a drop-off location and time where residents bring cut vegetation for chipping on-site.

What the program covers

The program focuses on chipping yard waste and vegetation to mitigate wildfire risk by reducing fuel sources. The page says the chipper can handle material up to 7 inches in diameter, but not root balls. Recently removed vegetation chips better than old, dried-out branches and shrubs.

Materials and limits

The page says the chipper cannot take or effectively chip:

• Bamboo and other non-chippable materials
• Leaves
• Succulents
• Pine needles
• Palm fronds
• Stumps
• Branches with thorns
• Vines
• Root balls
• Grasses and other small trimmings
• Rocks, dirt, wire, lumber, spiny plants, and poison oak
• Small individual branches or raking debris

How to participate

For curbside service, residents must sign up through the reservation link, pile vegetation properly before the event start date, and be aware that if all signups are completed on day one of a two-day event, there may be no second day.

For drop-off events, residents should reserve a spot when an event is available, do their own yard work ahead of the drop-off date, and bring the cut vegetation to the designated location.

Timing and deadlines

The page lists these 2026 events:

• June 9-10: Ondulando & Clearpoint neighborhoods, Ventura (curbside)
• July 13-14: Fillmore city-wide (curbside)
• June 27: Santa Susana neighborhood drop-off event at 6503 Katherine Rd, Simi Valley, CA 93063

The page also says chipping in each area may take several days, depending on the amount of vegetation set out and the number of participating residents.

Funding note

The page states that time spent cutting and stacking material for chipping counts as an in-kind match for this grant, and residents should track and report hours accurately to help secure future funding.