California Archives - Page 174 of 234

FEMA publishes EIS for proposed $5.6 million in fuel reduction projects in Bay Area

Bill GabbertDecember 3, 2014August 25, 2019UncategorizedCalifornia, fire prevention, fuel treatment1 Comment

The Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has released its final environmental impact statement (EIS) relating to grant applications totaling $5.67 million to fund proposed hazardous fire risk reduction projects in the San Francisco Bay Area. The EIS evaluates the potential environmental effects of proposed vegetation management projects designed to reduce wildfire risk in the East Bay Hills of Alameda and Contra Costa counties and at the Miller/Knox Regional Shoreline in Contra Costa County. The final EIS was filed with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on November 26^th and will be published in the Federal Register this Friday, December 5, 2014.

Between 2005 – 2010, the University of California Berkeley, the City of Oakland, and East Bay Regional Parks District submitted a total of four grant applications to FEMA through California’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) for federal financial assistance totaling $5.67 million to implement hazardous fire risk reduction projects. Based on the wildfire hazard characteristics of the East Bay Hills and the Miller/Knox Regional Shoreline, and the prolonged state-wide drought which has further intensified fire risk, FEMA has concluded that a need exists to reduce hazardous fire risk to inhabitants and structures in these areas.

The proposed grants were submitted to FEMA by the State of California on behalf of the named sub- applicants and are as follows:

PDMC-PJ-09-CA-2006-004 Oakland Regional Fuel Management Project (City of Oakland). Total project cost = $4,000,000; federal funding application = $3,000,000
PDMC-PJ-09-CA-2005-003 University of California Fire Mitigation Project – Claremont Canyon (UCB) Total project cost = $418,143.00; federal funding application = $291,000.00
PDMC-PJ-09-CA-2005-011 – University of California Fire Mitigation Project – Strawberry Canyon (UCB). Total project cost = $404,040.00; federal funding application = $282,828.00
HMGP DR-1731-0016-0034 – East Bay Regional Park District, Brush Fuels Management Project. Total project cost = $3,025,210; federal funding application = $2,268,908

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Three men ordered to pay $9 million restitution for Colby Fire

Bill GabbertDecember 2, 2014December 2, 2014UncategorizedCalifornia, Colby Fire12 Comments

Steven Aguirre, Clifford Eugene Henry Jr and Jonathan Carl Jarrell — Steven Aguirre, Clifford Eugene Henry Jr., and Jonathan Carl Jarrell. Glendora PD booking photos.

On Monday a judge ordered three men convicted of starting the Colby Fire to pay $9 million in restitution to public agencies, insurance companies and residents. An illegal campfire used by the men escaped in January, 2014 and burned 1,900 acres, destroying five homes and 17 other structures, while forcing evacuations in Azusa and Glendora in southern California.

Messrs. Henry and Aguirre were sentenced to several months in prison. Mr. Jarrell awaits sentencing.

Residents near the Colby fire are under a flash flood watch on Tuesday with very heavy rains in the weather forecast.

CL 415 on Colby Fire — A CL-415 assists firefighters on the Colby Fire in January. Photo by Jeff Zimmerman.

Animated fire history for Yosemite National Park

Bill GabbertDecember 2, 2014August 25, 2019UncategorizedCalifornia, research, Yosemite National Park

Kate Wilkin describes this video that illustrates the fire history in Yosemite National Park in Southern California:

Once fire is restored as an ecosystem process, fires often fit together like a jig saw puzzle or overlap slightly. Where fires overlap, they sometimes moderate how many trees are killed by the fire. However, if a fire kills most trees, then following fires continue to kill many trees. These findings are from the Wildland Fire Use program, such as in
Yosemite National Park’s upper mixed conifer forests in the Illilouette Creek Basin—a nearly 50 year experiment allowing 150+ lightning strike fires to burn in Yosemite’s wilderness. Here, the fire frequency and effects are approaching historical forest conditions. These results, which reduce fire hazards for people and nature, could be seen in similar forests elsewhere in California if fire became a principle tool of forest management.

Video by Kate Wilkin and Shannon Fairchild from the Stephens Wildland Fire Science Lab at the University of California at at Berkeley. The map is projected in UTM 11N NAD 83. Fire history polygons from Yosemite National park.

Ms. Wilkin is a graduate student at Berkeley’s Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management. She elaborates on her work HERE.

In 2015 Yosemite National Park celebrates their 150th year.

Very heavy rain forecast for SoCal

Bill GabbertDecember 1, 2014December 1, 2014UncategorizedCalifornia, weather

Very heavy rain is in the forecast for southern California through Wednesday. Included in the prediction is a flash flood watch for Tuesday in Los Angeles and Ventura counties below the recent burn areas. Specifically mentioned were the Colby, Powerhouse, Station, and Williams Fires in LA County.

As you can see in the map above, extensive areas should get between two and three inches, with a few places looking for five to six inches. This is a crapload of precipitation for southern California. Most inland locations normally receive 10 to 15 inches a year. Can we safely call this a fire season ending event for southern California? (I know — some will say the fire season there is year-round.)

An interesting comparison with this forecast is the prediction in the following article for elevated wildfire potential in southern California for the first half of December.

Below is the precipitation forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday at Mt. Laguna, California in the mountains east of San Diego (where I used to live). It looks like they are expecting over four inches of rain. (Click on it to see a slightly larger version.)

Wildfire briefing, November 25, 2015

Bill GabbertNovember 25, 2014UncategorizedBully Fire, California, Fire Prevention Fee

Man killed in Bully Fire identified

The man who was killed in the Bully Fire in July near Ono, California has been identified as Jesus Arellano Garcia, 35, of Michoacán, Mexico. The body was badly burned and investigators used DNA and circumstantial evidence to make the identification. The fire eventually burned 12,661 acres in Shasta County.

There is a $500,000 bench warrant for the arrest of Freddie Alexander Smoke III who allegedly started the Bully Fire as he was driving a truck to a marijuana plantation he was tending. Mr. Smoke was arrested the day the fire started and charged with causing the fire, but was freed after posting a $10,000 bail. The bench warrant was issued after he failed to show up on August 22 for an arraignment in which he was going to be charged with an additional crime, involuntary manslaughter.

Some California residents hope to overturn Fire Prevention Fee

As California residents in semi-rural areas are receiving their annual $150 bill for the state’s “Fire Prevention Fee”, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayer Association is continuing their litigation over what they call an illegal tax. Some residents say they already pay property taxes to support their local fire departments.

Below is an excerpt from an article in the San Diego Reader:

The lawsuit alleges that after Cal Fire’s loss of $80 million in funding due to 2011’s lingering budget crisis, then-assemblyman Robert Blumenfield (D-Van Nuys) pushed through as an emergency, carefully worded ABX1 29, stating the $150 fee was needed for “benefit services.” By not labeling it as a tax, a two-thirds vote of the legislature was not required. Fellow Democratic legislators quickly passed the bill, and Governor Brown signed it.

Cal Fire claims that in wildfire crises in those semi-rural areas they usually become the lead firefighting agency.

Red Flag Warnings, November 24, 2014

Bill GabbertNovember 24, 2014November 24, 2014UncategorizedCalifornia, Red Flag Warning2 Comments

Red Flag Warning wildfire — Red Flag Warning, November 24, 2014

Some areas in southern California will be under a Red Flag Warning until 6 p.m. PST Wednesday for strong gusty winds and low humidities.

The winds today are expected to be northeast at 20 to 30 mph with gusts to 45 in the mountains and below the canyons and passes, increasing Monday night and Tuesday morning with gusts up to 60 mph. The relative humidities will be as low as five percent during the day with poor overnight recovery.

The low humidities will continue through Thanksgiving with locally gusty east winds in the mountains and valleys of Riverside and San Diego Counties.