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Firewise Mitigation Plan
FIREWISE COMMUNITIES / USA
WILDLAND FIRE MITIGATION PLAN
FOR
LAKE ALMANOR WEST
Plumas County, California
2 April 2010
Adopted by the WACC Board on 21 April 2010
Note: pagination is on printed copy, not this electronic copy
Contents:
Foreword …………………………..…… 2
Introduction …………………….……….. 3
Education ……………………………….. 4
Initial Presentations
Sustaining Resources
Community Improvement …………...….. 6
Private Parcels
Community Parcels
Shoreline Strip
Certification ……………………………. 9
Suggested Timeline …………...……….. 10
FOREWORD
During
the latter half of 2009, a committee of volunteers undertook the task of
reviewing the fire-related conditions of the
community of Lake Almanor West. That effort resulted in the December 2,
2009 “Community Assessment Report for Lake
Almanor West”, which was formally adopted by the local Firewise Board
(i.e., the West Almanor Community Club Board) on February 26, 2010. The
findings of that assessment led to the development of this Mitigation
Plan, which is aimed at improving conditions within the community.
The two documents are closely
coupled. The Assessment Report provides considerable background material
along with the findings of a community inspection conducted in October
of 2009. The Assessment Report also includes some broad recommendations
for fire safety improvements of both individual private parcels and
community-owned parcels. Rather than repeating those elements, this
Mitigation Plan simply continues on from where the Assessment Report
left off. Readers should therefore refer to the earlier Assessment
Report for additional clarification of the various issues dealt with in
this document.
This Mitigation Plan was
drafted by a small team of community members: Don Van Alen, Chris
Christenson, Dick Horn, and Dale Knutsen. It was then reviewed for
concurrence with Chief Randy Fluke of the West Almanor Fire Department,
Jay Neuman of the California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection
(CAL FIRE) and Jerry Hurley of the Plumas County Fire Safe Council. When
complete, it was forwarded to the Lake Almanor West Firewise Board for
approval and implementation.
As with any plan of action,
this is a “living document,” subject to revision over time. It is fully
anticipated that some activities described herein will ultimately be
combined, rescheduled or modified, while other fire prevention or
educational activities may be added. But the underlying themes of
proactive intervention and property owner involvement are expected to
continue.
INTRODUCTION
Wildland fire concerns
are a continuing issue in forested regions such as found around the Lake
Almanor basin. Vegetation growth, human activities, climate cycles and
the presence or absence of vegetation attacks by disease or insects all
play a part in determining the extent of those fire concerns. Nothing in
the forest is static; change is always underway, even if it seems slight
to human observers. As a result, there is a need for continued vigilance
with regard to emerging hazardous conditions, as well as a
need to
take preventative action as conditions warrant.
Property owners and
managers are better equipped to evaluate, prioritize and act effectively
when they have a clear understanding of the observed and potential fire
hazards. Many Lake Almanor West property owners are relatively
unfamiliar with both the basics and the subtleties of fire issues in
forested terrain. Education is therefore a cornerstone of this
Mitigation Plan. It is vital that relevant information be made readily
available in non-technical terms. The next chapter focuses on this
important first step.
Once informed, property
owners and managers need to act to reduce fire hazards on their parcels.
This is actually a long
term
commitment, to act when and as needed as time passes to ensure that
parcels remain in a low risk status. A number of specific actions are
recommended in the chapter entitled “Community Improvement,”
encompassing both private residential parcels and community-owned
parcels.
It is important to recognize that this Mitigation Plan addresses
conditions and needs noted at a particular moment in time. Its purpose
is to outline recommended actions in response to observations made at
Lake Almanor West during the autumn of 2009. Moreover, it is fully
understood that conditions within the development will likely change
with time, partly as a result of actions taken to mitigate hazards and
partly due to ongoing natural processes. Therefore, it would be prudent
to periodically update fire hazard mitigation planning to reflect such
changes.
EDUCATION
Over the years, the West
Almanor Fire Department (WAFD) has acquired and made available a variety
of informational brochures, flyers and video materials for the purpose
of property owner education. Helpful information has also been posted on
the Fire Department’s website. However, there really has never been a
concentrated “push” for widespread community education on fire matters –
until now. The Firewise Communities project has elevated the need for
property owner education to a higher level,
and this
becomes the starting point for mitigation efforts.
Initial Presentations
Property owners deserve
the opportunity to learn more about the Firewise Communities process
and, especially, the results
of the
on-site assessment done at Lake Almanor West. To satisfy that need, a
PowerPoint presentation package will be prepared that summarizes that
activity and its findings. The briefing material can be presented at one
or more information sessions scheduled at the discretion of the West
Almanor Community Club (WACC) Board. The targeted amount of time for the
presentation would be approximately one hour, with additional question &
answer time to follow. Electronic copies of the PowerPoint presentation
will be recorded onto CD-ROMs for archive and loan purposes. A hard copy
of the presentation material, in reduced-size format, can be placed in
information binders at the WACC Office and the Fire Station as well.
A second PowerPoint
presentation, more to the point of making improvements, will be prepared
that deals with the fundamentals of fire as well as basic solutions for
the types of issues that were noted in the Assessment Report. Again,
this would be a nominal one hour presentation, plus Q&A, that can be
scheduled at the Board’s discretion. Electronic (CD-ROM) copies and hard
copies will also be produced and delivered.
Sustaining Resources
The two presentation
packages represent a point of departure for the Firewise education
initiative. The material in those packages will likely find application
at later dates, especially the second presentation on basic solutions.
However, there is also a need for other educational materials and
venues, to maintain property owner awareness over time and to help
newcomers.
The WACC Newsletter has
already been used to good effect as a means of informing members of the
Firewise project and its progress. The Firewise material in the April
2010 issue of the Newsletter will be expanded to include summaries of
basic needs, common problems and their solutions, and sources of online
information. These three information sheets can also be made available
as handouts at the Fire Station, the WACC Office and/or special events
such as the annual meeting, Fire Department open house, etc. If desired,
they could also be posted on the WACC website.
The WACC Newsletter can
also be used as the medium to transmit other short articles related to
fire safety matters. While the Newsletter only gets mailed out a few
times a year, it has the advantage of being delivered to every property
owner in the development.
Online resources include
both the WACC and the West Almanor Fire Department websites. It is
recommended that the Firewise Assessment Report be posted on the WACC
website for member reference. The existing Fire Department website
already includes a considerable amount of mitigation information. That
existing material could be supplemented with a few elements from the
information sheets being published in the April 2010 WACC Newsletter.
Additional helpful
information is found on other websites as well. The Plumas County Fire
Safe Council maintains a very comprehensive website, as does the
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE). Both
of these sites are noted in the Assessment Report and the list of online
resources found in the April 2010 WACC Newsletter.
The West Almanor Fire
Department has a variety of fire-related brochures and pamphlets
available as handouts for property owners, and also has several video
items available for loan. Their inventory of materials will be reviewed
and possibly expanded
with more
recent items. The Fire Chief has also repeatedly made it known that he
is available to answer questions or to visit parcels to meet with
property owners and discuss their issues and concerns.
All of these resources
are in the category of self-help materials. They are freely available to
any Lake Almanor West property owner. The online resources are available
to anyone, at any time. But it does require that property owners take
the initiative to actually read materials mailed to them, or select the
indicated websites, or stop by the fire station to pick up literature.
They can’t be forced to learn, but WACC can and should repeatedly
announce the nature of the Firewise project and the availability of
educational resources.
COMMUNITY IMPROVEMENT
After education comes
action. If no action takes place, it matters little whether property
owners understand fire issues or not. Presumably, better knowledge of
fire concerns and solutions will lead property owners to not only deal
with concerns on their own residential parcels but also support
community efforts to reduce hazards on recreational and other
community-owned parcels. This chapter briefly discusses recommended
actions in both categories.
Private Parcels
For many years the Fire
Chief has conducted annual parcel inspections based on the requirements
of State law (i.e., PRC-4291) as well as local CC&Rs. Discrepancies
noted during drive-by inspections are brought to the property owners’
attention, who are then expected to remedy the situation in a timely
manner. Such annual inspections will definitely continue, using the even
more stringent requirements of the revised PRC-4291 and its implementing
guidelines from CAL FIRE. Moreover, it is a goal of the Firewise project
to give every Lake Almanor West property owner the educational resources
to conduct their own fire safety inspections of their parcel and
structures, up close and from all sides. Self-inspection by
knowledgeable and motivated owners should lead to greater attention to
detail, especially around structures. That in turn should lead to
positive actions to reduce even minor hazards, and to do so on a regular
basis.
From the perspective of
the Mitigation Plan, the primary recommended action for private parcels
is to continue annual PRC-4291 and CC&R inspections, citing those cases
where deficiencies are noted, and requiring timely response. Secondly,
property owners should be encouraged to become knowledgeable in fire
hazard matters such that they can detect and eliminate hazards whenever
and wherever they occur on their property.
Community Parcels
The West Almanor
Community Club administers several community-owned parcels within the
development. The community inspection done as part of the Firewise
Assessment process noted a few safety concerns on some of those parcels,
primarily due to natural fuel buildup over time. Recommended actions on
these parcels are summarized below.
• Entrance Road Shoulder Area
The shoulder areas of
Lake Almanor West Drive at the front entrance have gradually become
littered with combustible debris (limbs, twigs, etc.). Cleanup of this
area is a straightforward task, ideally suited to a volunteer project
where community members would pick up the material. The area to be
treated would begin at the CalTrans fence line on the west side and
continue across the paved road to include a swath approximately 50 feet
wide on the east side. This should encompass the most likely area of
ignition danger from a carelessly discarded cigarette.
Disposal of the natural
debris could be accomplished in one of several ways: (a) small burn
piles along the old railroad grade that transects the area on the east
side of the paved road; (b) removal of the debris to some other nearby
burn site; (c) chipping on site, with the chips spread out on the
surface; or (d) transportation of the material (or chips) off site to
the electrical cogeneration plant at Westwood. Chipping, transportation
and cogen plant fees would be the principal cost items involved in these
options.
During the summer months,
these shoulder areas should also be monitored for grass and weed growth.
Periodic treatment with a string trimmer is recommended to avoid an easy
ignition path from dry grass or weeds.
• East of Driving Range
The fire safety thinning
activity that was accomplished in 2007 on the community-owned parcel
north and east of the golf course driving range led to a growth surge of
new trees there. Currently there is a significant excess of conifer
seedlings and saplings (mostly pines), concentrated along Lake Almanor
West Drive just west of the Recreation Area parcel. In the interests of
improved fire safety and tree health, most of this new growth needs to
be removed, leaving selected young trees to continue with less
competition for sunlight, moisture and nutrients.
This is another ideal
candidate for a volunteer project. Young trees to be left untouched
could first be flagged by a forester, who would then be followed by
volunteers who would cut and remove the other seedlings/saplings.
Disposal options are similar to those discussed above.
• Recreation Area
The area between the
Recreation Area parking lot and Lake Almanor West Drive includes a
number of small-diameter conifers that are in a “suppressed” condition
and are in excess of what can grow in a healthy manner there. The same
is true of the area to the west and north of the WACC Office building.
Removal of the suppressed trees would open up the area and reduce the
amount of crown-to-crown fuel continuity. Because the targeted trees are
small, tree cutting could be accomplished by in-house staff; volunteer
support might also be used to move the cuttings. Disposal of the
resulting slash and debris might best be accomplished by chipping, with
the chips either spread on the ground or transported to the cogen
facility.
• Golf Course Crossing at Maidu Drive
The golf course includes
two heavily forested parcels along Maidu Drive near the 5th hole and the
6th tee. The large number of small-diameter, suppressed trees that
currently exist on these two parcels should be removed and the lower
limbs of the remaining trees should be pruned up to create a minimum six
foot clearance above the surface. This effort could again be
accomplished by in-house staff, supported as appropriate with
volunteers.
• North of Tennis Courts
The community parcel that
lies north of the tennis courts and east of the real estate sales office
contains a mix of older trees, some of them distressed, and young
saplings, sometimes in dense clusters. Tree health and fire safety
conditions could be improved there with some thoughtful thinning. This
would be best accomplished with some additional review and planning,
involving a forester, the WACC maintenance supervisor and one or more
members of the WACC Board, who could arrive at a plan of action to deal
with the area. It is likely that several large trees would need to be
cut, along with a number of small-diameter trees and saplings. Lower
limb removal will also be needed on a number of the remaining trees. The
goal would be to identify a cutting plan that would result in a
composite tree stand that was attractive, safe and relatively stable
over the long term.
• Continued Surveillance
The several sub-projects
described above represent a current view of needs on community-owned
parcels. As time goes on, vegetation will change and other needs will
likely emerge. It is therefore important that WACC periodically review
all of its community-owned parcels to determine whether additional
improvement actions are necessary. This is especially true of the
outlying greenbelt parcels, which serve as buffers between residential
areas and adjacent lands. Occasional cleanup activity is a virtual
certainty there, as new growth emerges and debris accumulates.
PG&E Shoreline Strip
The area between the
(variable) lake water level and the 4500 foot elevation level along the
lakeshore belongs to Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E). This
shoreline strip often contains trees and other vegetation, and in some
areas has become overcrowded with natural fuels. It is recommended that
the WACC Board coordinate with PG&E regarding tree thinning and
vegetation cleanup that would improve fire safety conditions in those
areas. Some of the known areas that could benefit from such attention
would include:
- The boat ramp parcel shoreline
- Several spots along the Lake Almanor West Drive shoreline
- Shoreline portion of the Recreation Area parcel
- Shoreline portion of the front entrance greenbelt parcel
CERTIFICATION
Several steps are
involved in the process to become officially certified as a Firewise
Community. The December 2009 Firewise Assessment Report was one of the
key elements, and this Mitigation Plan is another. Two additional items
must be accomplished before the certification application can be
submitted:
a. Hold a “Firewise Day” in the community -- this can
be an educational event, such as the previously discussed PowerPoint
presentations, an open house at the Fire Station, etc.
b. Invest not less than $2 per capita on Firewise
activities -- the expenditure can be the cost of contracted work, the
value of
in-house labor and/or the value of volunteer support at a rate of not
less than $20 per hour per volunteer. (The official census
count of full time Lake Almanor West residents determines the official
population number.)
It is recommended that
the WACC Board proceed with these remaining two steps and subsequently
file the Firewise Community certification application. Note also that
the two actions mentioned above must be repeated annually to maintain
Firewise Community status.
SUGGESTED TIMELINE
The migratory nature of
the much of the population of Lake Almanor West leads to a situation
where only a limited number of people are in residence during the winter
months. Winter snows also limit the amount of useful activity that could
be accomplished in thinning or surface cleanup tasks. It is therefore
reasonable to focus most Firewise activity on the warm months. With that
in mind, the following approximate timeline is recommended:
a. Late spring 2010 - Update WACC website and Fire
Station materials
b. Late spring 2010 - Fire Chief conducts annual parcel
inspections
c. Summer 2010 - Hold first “Firewise Day”, focused on
education
d. Summer 2010 - Conduct volunteer cleanup of front
entrance road shoulder areas
e. Summer 2010 - Conduct volunteer/in-house cleanup of
area east of driving range
f. Summer 2010 - Submit Firewise Community
certification application
g. Autumn 2010 - Prepare plan for subsequent community
improvement efforts.
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