At my last count, there were 20
local Fire Safe Council’s in Siskiyou County. Some of these are individual
non-profits. The several councils in Scott Valley are also associated as a regional
council. Many of the Scott Valley groups are assisted by the Northern California Resource Center
http://www.californiaresourcecenter.org On the countywide level, there is another
non-profit, the Fire Safe Council of Siskiyou County (FSCSC), that assists council’s
that are not individual non-profits in obtaining resources. FSCSC also organizes workshops
in safety, techniques and equipment use, as well as educates the public on creating a
defensible space. http://www.firesafesiskiyou.org
The FSCSC has also helped to organize the individual local fire safe
plans into one document, which the group recently presented to the Board of Supervisors.
Using the work from this document, a future panel of the County and various agencies is
anticipated to provide guidance and consistency, establish priorities and come together
around a countywide strategy on private and public lands to address fuel loads and fire
danger to Siskiyou County communities.
Now is the time to join your local fire safe council and to begin a
self-assessment of your own property to comply with defensible space regulations for the
100 foot area around structures on your property. Most of these councils are also working
on shaded fuel breaks around communities to slow the rapid spread of fire through ladder
fuels and drop it to the ground where it can be fought.
This past week, Siskiyou County Fire Warden Bernie Paul and I
attended a meeting, coordinated by Congressman Herger, with other northern counties and
the Forest Service. We discussed: The use of
manmade fire as a firefighting tool; Night fire fighting and aggressive fighting of fire;
Planning a defense on the “right ridge”; “Appropriate
Management Response” (AMR); Interaction with local fire authorities and dispatch
– providing community perimeter defense and resources for residences in jeopardy of
burning; Who calls for and pays for firefighting services; Smoke impacts to health and
economy; Use of local knowledge and the Fire Safe Councils; Continuity between incident
teams; Helping local contractors enroll on the
national system so they can be utilized; Liability and incident commanders; Re-burns and
the danger of current fuel loads from past fires - protection of public health and safety;
Lack of monetary resources to suppress fire and reduce fuel loads; Appropriate “pace
and scale” of fuel reduction necessary in an area prone to frequent fires; and Loss
of timber infrastructure.
This past summer, more than 200,000 acres burned in Siskiyou County.
On the Klamath National Forest (KNF), a total of 92 fires started, burning 77,139 acres.
In adjacent Six Rivers National Forest, 23,470 acres burned. An additional 102,744 acres
burned on the Ukonom District, which is in the Klamath National Forest, but managed by the
Six Rivers NF. All but the Panther fire ignited during the lightning events of late June.
Of the 92 fires that started on the KNF, all but 12, (or 87 percent,)
were contained at less than 10 acres in size. Four
of these ten were contained within a few days time.
In California prior to June 20th, there were three active
fires burning in Santa Cruz, Chico and Willows. Only about 65-70% of USFS firefighting
capacity was available. On June 20, there were 5,146 lightning strikes and 1,010 fires
within 36 hours. There was a 92 percent initial attack success on these fires state-wide.
Resource allocation priorities were to protect life first; then property and then natural
resources. Siskiyou County saw the death of one firefighter, but no private persons or
structures were lost. A presentation about the fires included a series of chronologic maps
showing the extinguishment of the fires through northern California. Generally, Siskiyou
and Trinity County’s fires persisted and grew so large because they were generally
burning in Wilderness or sparsely populated areas and limited resources had to be
allocated to respond to the immediate threat to life and property elsewhere. |
