Prescribed burn set for Lily Valley area

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Prescribed burn set for Lily Valley area

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection will be conducting a prescribed burn in the Lily Valley area east of West Point. The 6,342-acre Winton-Schaads Prescribed Burn will be divided up into 10 to 20 acre areas which will be treated over a three-month period starting this fall and concluding in late spring. One to two Cal Fire engines along with personnel from Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI) will conduct the burn.

This under-story burn will treat bear clover, small conifers, brush and grass and will help protect the communities of West Point, Wilseyville, and Lily Valley as well as protect timber resources and the Mokelumne watershed.

A prescribed burn is a managed procedure of fire ignition in an area that has control lines in place and crews and equipment in strategic locations. A prescribed burning project is the result of extensive pre-planning involving studies of the vegetation types, fuel loading, weather patterns, topography, values at risk, and fire history, Cal Fire said. An environmental analysis is made for each project, along with mitigation measures to address any foreseeable impacts that may be caused by the fire.

The prescribed burn project will start with a small “test burn” as a final check to ensure that conditions are within “prescription.” If conditions are favorable, then the firefighters will begin ignition around the perimeter of the project allowing a low intensity slow burn to consume fuels within the project.

Local Unit Chief Mike Noonan said that if the fuel moisture, temperatures, humidity and winds are favorable, the burn will proceed as scheduled. If not, the project will be rescheduled.

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How fires get their names

Every year in California thousands of wildfires start throughout the state. In most cases, the dispatch center sending the initial resources to a wildland fire will designate a name for the fire, but the first on scene engine or fire official can also name the incident. Fires are usually named for the area in which they start – a geographical location, local landmark, street, lake, mountain, peak, etc. Quickly naming the fire provides responding fire resources with an additional locater, and allows fire officials to track and prioritize incidents by name. For example during the Southern California Fire Siege of 2003, the largest wildland fire in California history, the Cedar Fire in San Diego County, was named after the Cedar Creek Falls area where it started. The destructive Old Fire, which burned during the same time period in San Bernardino County, was named after the road along which it started - Old Waterman Canyon Road.

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Saturday, October 20, 2007