Thursday, February 7th the County hosted a second quarterly Wildfire Prevention Stakeholder Meeting, gathering nearly 70 community leaders from local, state and federal agencies and organizations. This meeting offered an opportunity to discuss how to work together across jurisdictional boundaries to increase community resilience to wildfire. Participants included elected officials, municipal leadership, and representatives from local fire districts and fire departments, CalFire, California State Parks, Caltrans, Bear Yuba Land Trust, Coalition of Fire Wise Communities, County of Nevada Sheriff’s Office, Community Development Agency, Office of Emergency Services and Public Works staff, Fire Safe Council of Nevada County, Bureau of Land Management, KNCO, KVMR, Nevada County Media, Nevada County Resource Conservation District, Nevada County Superintendent of Schools, Nevada Irrigation District, Pacific Gas and Electric, Sierra Business Council, South Yuba River Citizens League, Tahoe National Forest, Truckee Fire Department, Truckee Police Department, University of California Cooperative Extension, Yuba Watershed Institute and YubaNet.
The objectives of the meeting were 1) bring together community organizations with a shared wildfire prevention mission, 2) establish ongoing coordinated approach to wildfire prevention priorities, projects, and public awareness activities, and 3) maximize local, state and federal resources for the greatest community impact.
Nevada County's 2019 Wildfire Hazard Reduction and Preparedness Plan
Attendees heard from County of Nevada’s Information, General and Emergency Services Director, Steve Monaghan, who introduced the County’s 2019 Wildfire Hazard Reduction and Preparedness Plan and unveiled upcoming updates to the Hazardous Vegetation Ordinance. The ordinance will soon be strengthened to encourage increased fire-safe property maintenance activities and provide enhanced enforcement capabilities.
CalFire Fuels Treatment Projects
CalFire Forester, Steve Garcia and Division Chief, Jim Mathias, connected with attendees about their process for prioritizing fuels treatment projects across Nevada County. They introduced a draft county-wide projects map which will eventually display all completed, in progress and proposed hazardous vegetation projects being conducted by all stakeholders in Nevada County. This map is currently being developed and will soon be available to the public.
Update to Safety Element of Nevada County General Plan
Coleen Shade, a County of Nevada Senior Planner, informed the group of her efforts to update the Safety Element of the General Plan which will has a significant focus on wildfire.
PG&E Community Wildfire Prevention Program
Pacific Gas and Electric’s (PG&E) Sierra Division Public Affairs Officer, Brandon Sanders, and Richard L. Hadley, Sr. Government Relations Representative Integrated Public Affairs presented on the company’s robust Community Wildfire Prevention Program. This program includes monitoring, enhanced safety measures and system hardening. They will continue to monitor conditions across their system and evaluate whether to proactively turn off electric lines, as a last resort, in the interest of public safety. Factors that will contribute to whether PG&E implements a Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) include: declaration of a Red Flag Warning, low humidity levels, forecasted sustained winds above 25mph and wind gusts in excess of 45mph, condition of dry fuels, and on-the-ground, real-time observations.
Fire Safe Council Green Waste Sites
The Fire Safe Council, the Office of Emergency Services and the South Yuba River Citizens League highlighted upcoming opportunities to collaborate with the public and civic organizations. The Fire Safe Council recently was awarded a grant to fund free green waste disposal sites to communities throughout Nevada County. Residents can expect to have access to these free disposal sites in spring.
Next Steps
Looking forward, the County plans to continue facilitating this community stakeholder process for wildfire, increasing the momentum and collaboration already established by the many organizations and agencies working on wildfire prevention in Nevada County. Collectively, the group will track state and federal funding opportunities and identify opportunities to collaborate across jurisdictions on fire prevention projects, such as fuel treatments and fuel breaks. In addition, the group will work together to update the Community Wildfire Prevention Plan and the Nevada County portion of CAL FIRE’s Unit Strategic Fire Plan. One goal identified by members of the group is to map fire prevention projects that are in the queue, in progress, or have been completed. From this large stakeholder group, smaller working groups will focus on various initiatives, such as outreach and education and evacuation planning/preparedness, to continue progress in wildfire prevention efforts.
Wildfire reduction has been a top priority and area of focus for the Board of Supervisors, including supporting and working with our community partners. The Wildfire Community Stakeholder group will continue to meet quarterly to continue the collaboration amongst allied agencies working on wildfire prevention. By approaching wildfire prevention collaboratively, Nevada County will be poised to maximize state and federal resources to achieve a greater impact for the community.
