Cambria on verge of declaring local fire emergency
By Lili Tan | KSBY-TV San Luis ObispoPosted: Mar 17, 2015 6:55 PM PST Updated: Mar 17, 2015 6:55 PM PST
A Central Coast seaside village is on the verge of declaring a local emergency over fire risk because nearly half of the Monterey pine trees in Cambria are dry, dying or dead, making them fuel for large-scale fires.
A San Luis Obispo County grand jury report released Tuesday found almost half of the iconic pines were dead. Fire chiefs say under certain conditions include low humidity and northeast winds, winds could push a fire from the forest straight down to homes in the village.
"My house is right on the path," said Michael Walsh, who lives in Cambria's Happy Hill neighborhood. "My concern is having that type of dead and dry fuel that it's going to explode in a fire storm."
All around Walsh's home, Monterey pine trees are suffering from drought.
"All of these trees are not dark green vibrant trees anymore. Some of them have fallen," he said.
The report urges the Cambria Community Services District and the County Board of Supervisors to declare a local fire emergency, which would bring awareness to the risk and help fire departments obtain grants to remove the dead trees.
The grand jury found 40 percent of the Monterey pines in Cambria are dead, "compared to five percent in a non-drought year," CAL Fire Chief Robert Lewin said.
"And in some pockets of forest, we're seeing mortality of 90 percent of the trees. It exponentially got worse over this winter," Lewin said.
CAL Fire and Cambria Fire Department officials say between the drought, pine pitch canker disease and water conservation rules, there is the potential for a perfect fire storm.
"It's a vicious cycle. And typically you'd have a cleansing fire that would run through but we can't do that here because of the population," Cambria Fire Chief Mark Miller said.
Fire officials are proposing several prevention strategies: enforcing dead tree and vegetation removal, having an evacuation plan, conducting community drills, and having residents sign up for reverse 911, Nixle and Twitter for announcements.
More ideas from the community are encouraged during a SLO County Fire Safe Council Meeting Wednesday morning at the Cambria Vets Hall starting at 9:00 a.m.
Source: http://www.ksby.com/story/28546620/cambria-on-verge-of-declaring-local-fire-emergency
Read my blog at http://eclecticarcania.blogspot.com/
My Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/derkimster
Linkedin profile: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/kim-noyes/9/3a1/2b8
Follow me on Twitter @CalDisasters
__._,_.___
No comments:
Post a Comment