YAVAPAI COUNTY OFFERING EXTENSION TO HELP MAKE YOUR PROPERTY FIREWISE
Published on March 20, 2025
Are you ready for wildfire season? Because it's already begun.
Wildfire season doesn't start in the summer, it is now 365 days a year in Yavapai county. And this year, all first responders, including YCSO, are warning residents that 2025 could be extremely dangerous because of the lack of significant winter storms.
The Board of Supervisors has approved extending the dates of a free slash drop-off program, while strongly urging all county residents to make sure their property is "firewise". YCSO, county Emergency Management, and all fire suppression agencies are asking residents to help us make sure this year doesn't produce tragedy from loss of life and property due to wildfires. Supervisor Chris Kukyno at the March 19 Board meeting pointed to a couple of decades ago, when a wildfire reached the southern boundary of Prescott before it was stopped, and many newly-concerned citizens immediately decided they needed to clear vegetation and dry pine needles from their property. He said, "It took a big scare back then, and I want to say we are in a big scare now." Board Chairman Mary Mallory told the meeting, "We need to have our property clean and we need to be alert." She stressed that because of the large population growth of the entire county in recent years, one wildfire incident affects a lot more people than it used to.
The free slash drop-off program is available to every resident of Yavapai county, whether you live in an incorporated city or town, or in an unincorporated area. The program is already underway and will run until June 15, 2025 (it was extended by the Board of Supervisors from the original April 1- June 1 time frame). Officials are stressing that it is ONLY FOR UNBAGGED brush/vegetation (yard trimmings, tree branches, grass, leaves), and NOT for household trash, tree stumps, lumber, metal, etc. Also, this is only for residential use; no commercial loads will be accepted.
Drop off is now through June 15 at a county Transfer Station from 8am-4pm on the days listed:
Black Canyon City: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday
Camp Verde: Tuesday through Saturday
Congress: Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
Mayer: Tuesday through Saturday
Paulden: Tuesday through Saturday
Seligman: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday
Skull Valley: Thursday through Saturday
Also, YCSO strongly urges all residents in unincorporated county locations to register for our "alert-YAVAPAI - Everbridge" emergency notification system. You can easily sign up by clicking on the link on the homepage of this website, under Featured Content. You can sign up for text alerts only by texting the phrase alertYAVAPAI to 888777.
And please go to protect.genasys.com to "KNOW YOUR ZONE" in the Genasys program, which works hand in hand with Everbridge for evacuation information. If you need to register special instructions to first responders, go to smart911.com (for example, if someone is disabled or on oxygen, etc).
When it comes to READY-SET-GO, all residents need to always be READY for any emergency. Please don't wait until it's too late. Visit yavapaiready.gov for important information on what to include in your "GO" kit.