Free Green Waste Pickup Truckee

Fall is a good time to take one last look around your property before winter arrives. For Truckee homeowners, there is still an opportunity to clear away some of the woody vegetation created during wildfire mitigation work.

Truckee Fire Protection District is reminding residents that October 11 is the final day to request its free residential curbside green-waste pickup service.

The program is designed to make it easier for homeowners to create and maintain defensible space around their homes. They provide a way to dispose of eligible vegetation after it has been cleared. Click here to reserve your pickup.

A Simple Way to Finish Your Defensible-Space Work

Creating defensible space isn't only about cutting vegetation. Once branches, shrubs and small trees have been removed, homeowners are often left with a substantial pile of material that can be difficult to haul away.

Truckee Fire's curbside program helps with that final step. Residents place eligible woody vegetation at the curb, submit a pickup request, and the Fire District collects the material with a grapple truck.

The service is free for residential work and is intended for vegetation generated by homeowners—not material produced by a paid landscaping or forestry contractor.

What Can Be Picked Up?

The program accepts woody vegetation such as:

Tree limbs and branches

Shrubs

Tree trunks up to 8 inches in diameter

Green or recently dead woody vegetation

Pieces no longer than 6 feet

There are also specific requirements for how the pile should be prepared. Material should be stacked neatly along the curb of a public road, with the cut ends facing the street. Piles should be no more than 6 feet high and should be consolidated into one pile rather than several smaller piles.

Homeowners should also leave at least 3 feet of clearance around hydrants, snow poles, utility boxes, trees and retaining walls. Maintain 15 feet of overhead clearance from power and communication lines.

What Isn't Accepted?

Not everything from a fall cleanup belongs in the curbside pile. The program does not accept:

Pine needles or cones

Bark

Roots, stumps or root wads

Bags or bagged material

If your cleanup produces these types of materials, other disposal options are available through local waste services.

Why Fall Is an Important Time for Fire Preparation

Truckee's landscape can look dramatically different as the seasons change. Summer brings dry vegetation and increased wildfire concerns, while fall offers homeowners a chance to address property maintenance before snow arrives.

Removing excess woody vegetation isn't a guarantee against wildfire, but creating defensible space is one of the steps homeowners can take to improve the chances that a home will survive a wildfire.

And with the October 11 deadline approaching, homeowners who have already done the work don't want to miss the final opportunity to have their eligible material hauled away through the Fire District's curbside program.

Don't Wait Until the Last Minute

If you have been putting off that pile of branches or recently completed vegetation clearing around your Truckee property, now is the time to finish the job.

The deadline to request Truckee Fire's free curbside green-waste pickup is October 11.

Residents should have their pile properly prepared before submitting their pickup request and review the program's current requirements before placing material at the curb.

For Truckee homeowners, a little fall cleanup can do more than tidy up the property. It can be one more step toward creating a safer, more resilient home and community before winter settles over the Sierra.