YNP: Hazardous Fuels Reduction Projects

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

YNP: Hazardous Fuels Reduction Projects

Hetch Hetchy and Foresta area Mechanical Thinning

Hazardous Fuels Reduction Projects

Yosemite Fire Crews 6 and 7 will begin mechanical thinning project work in Hetch Hetchy and Foresta areas. They are cutting, piling and mechanically thinning dense vegetation including brush, shade tolerant conifers such as incense cedar, white fir and ponderosa pine. They are also clearing accumulated dead biomass on the forest floor like sticks and logs. You may see and hear chain saws and see crews cutting trees and piling the brush for burning later in the year when conditions are cool and wet.

The Hetch-Hetchy project is being funded by San Francisco Public Utilities Commission to reduce fuels near housing units, historic structures and other infrastructure near O’Shaughnessy Dam. This project began October 16.

The Foresta project is one of an ongoing series of projects within the community. This thinning project is located west of First and Second Streets. Cal Fire’s Mt Bullion fire hand crew began the project October 16.

This process of fuel reduction is one tool used by the National Park Service to reduce heavy accumulation of fuels, ultimately to prevent larger fires. In turn, this helps preserve natural and cultural resources, and provide for public and firefighter safety. These projects also serve to protect park and community structures and other cultural and natural values at risk from larger unwanted wildland fires in the Wildland Urban Interface areas (WUI).

The project creates “fuel separation” between cabins and homes and forest, and also removes excess ‘ladder’ fuels that can carry fire from the forest floor to the canopy (tops of trees) in the event of an unwanted wildfire. When the project is completed, visitors and residents will notice a clearer, more open forest in these areas. This is more typical of what forests in the Sierra Nevada Mountains looked like under a natural, frequent, lightning caused fire regime. The dense forests are the result of fire suppression for over 100 years which increased the potential for catastrophic wildfire in the park.

For additional Information: Fire Information and Education: Gary_Wuchner@nps.gov; (209) 375-9574 or (209) 372-0480.
Yosemite Fire Management Website: http://www.nps.gov/yose/parkmgmt/current_fire.htm.

CFN - California Fire News 2012

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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.

CAL FIRE is the largest fire department in California and the second largest fire department in the United States. CDF - CAL FIRE Firefighters answer the call more than 300,000 times a year. CAL FIRE Firefighters make up the fire department for 30 of our 58 counties in California and more than 100 local communities. We serve as the incident command during many of California’s most serious disasters. CAL FIRE Firefighters respond to many various types and forms of calls ranging from structural fires, to auto accidents, to earthquakes, to floods, to the spilling of hazardous materials, to every conceivable disaster; CAL FIRE answer's the calls. CAL FIRE is the largest fire department in California and the second largest fire department in the United States . CAL FIRE firefighters protect 33 million acres of State Responsibility Area (SRA). We have over 4,000 members within CAL FIRE and CAL FIRE is associated with the California Professional Firefighters (CPF) and the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF).

CFN - CALIFORNIA FIRE NEWS - CAL FIRE NEWS

Tuesday, October 16, 2012