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| Four Seasons Hemet Herald | JULY 2026 | 9 Fire and Your Home's Landscape The big topic on everyone's mind after the May fire is preparing for fire in the landscape. After years of debate between fire officials and ecologists, California's Board of Forestry and Fire Protection released new proposed landscaping rules for fire-prone areas. These rules outline more stringent requirements to remove all plants in a new "Safety Zone" within a foot of the house and creates a bigger buffer around potential vulnerabilities in a home's wildfire armor. More details on these rules will be available in the future. As we are now painfully aware, there are many areas of Four Seasons that Cal Fire has identified as being very high fire risk. Most of these areas are exactly the ones closest to the burn areas from the last fire. If you live in one of these areas, it's a good time to consider making the following changes in your landscape: • Generally, nothing that can burn can sit in the Safety Zone (the area one foot from the house). This includes bark mulch, green grass, bushes and f lowers • Prioritize noncombustible materials like gravel, stone, decomposed granite, patios, and pathways • The new rules allow small plants — from begonias to succulents — up to 18 inches tall if they are spaced out in groups • All plants should be sparse, low growing, irrigated, and well maintained • Trees within the Safety Zone or under a roof overhang should be removed • Consider using low- or non-combustible natives such as California Fuschia, Beach Strawberry, Creeping sage, Douglas Iris, and California Meadow Sage • Even "firewise" natives should be spaced far from structures and kept free of leaves and mulch build up. Before making any landscape changes, be sure to get approval from the Architectural Review Committee! Non-functional Turf Replacement Project Status The Landscape Committee along with Harvest, our landscaping company, is making headway on beginning the Non-functional Turf Replacement project. We are still waiting for final project scope from EMWD. Plans are already in place for an updated and grass-free landscape. See Something at Needs Fixing? The more eyes we have on the lookout in the community, the better. If you see broken irrigation, f looded areas, or dead/dying plants, please take a photo and email it to Maria Donti: maria.donti@fsresidential.com. Landscape Committee First, I'd like to say on behalf of everyone in our community, "Glad we still have 1,106 homes standing, with only a few pinkish ones. Cheers and a grateful thank you to the first responders!" After the excitement of the recent brushfire, the topic of this article may seem a bit boring. But it really isn't. Our Four Seasons community started out in 2003, long before my arrival. The common areas were built and decorated very nicely. Resort-like, some would say. The Facilities Committee was formed to ensure that amenities were repaired, replaced or updated as necessary. Up to this time, that mandate has worked well. However, our now 23-year-old facility requires less repair and more outright replacement and updating of many items that have worn or broken under daily use. In many cases, parts for our older equipment is hard to find, not available, or simply more expensive than a modern replacement. Finishes, colors, and styles change as well. Newer equipment has many advantages: it can be more efficient, is under a warranty, and it "starts the clock" over as a unit. I'm sure all of us have had the unhappy experience of replacing a part to save money only to have another part fail shortly after. The Facilities Committee tracks repair costs and frequency so that we can make the most prudent fiscal decision. For example, a few years ago the HVAC units on the Lodge required more frequent and costly repairs. The committee determined that it was time to replace them instead of simply repairing. As a bonus, by replacing all the units at once, we got a better price with less disruption to the use of the Lodge. Now we can look forward to years of trouble-free service while our reserves build back up for a future replacement. As another example, the community's road rehabilitation project was halted for a short time while the committee worked with the vendor, the Finance Committee, and the Board of Directors to make a ten-year plan. With over a million square feet of asphalt, the cost would be prohibitive to complete this project in a year or two even if it only costs a dollar per square foot. Instead, the multi-year plan is a budgeted way to rehabilitate all the community's asphalt. Finally, a slurry seal, which is the least expensive process, provides an additional four to six years of protection. Once complete, the asphalt maintenance reserves can build up again. As a note - replacement doesn't automatically translate to an HOA dues increase. Reserve funds are budgeted for the express purpose of replacing and repairing our community's amenities. ~ 'til next year - Richard Shimko Facilities Committee

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