Camino, Calif. October 24, 2016 – With the change of seasons evident here in the foothills, CAL FIRE AEU will begin burning many different Vegetation Management Projects or VMPs in Amador, and El Dorado counties. “When the weather presents a safe opportunity, we will re-introduce low intensity fire in the landscape in designated areas. These areas represent tactical locations where the thinning of the forest not only helps forest ecology, but it also creates a natural fuel break in the event of a large and damaging wildfire to help protect communities.” Mike Kaslin Unit Chief.

–Doaks VMP is located east of the community of Pioneer on Tiger Creek Road.  It is a ridge top shaded fuel break that connects the Cooks Ridge Fuel break with the Antelope Fuel Break.  This fall we will be planning to burn around 100 acres over a 3 day period when the proper conditions are present.  We will broadcast burn in the timber under-story.  The fuel type is mixed conifer with some brush undergrowth.

-Shake Fiddle VMP is located near Shakeridge Road east of the Community of Volcano.  It is a ridge top shaded fuel break that protects the communities of Pioneer and Volcano.  We plan to burn 100 acres over a three day period. We will broadcast burn in a timber under-story with some logging slash

-Sly Park VMP in cooperation with El Dorado Irrigation District, will be conducted within the Sly park recreation area. These burns are a part of a shaded fuel break for the homes along Sly Park road in Pollock Pines. It will be approximately 60 acres of broadcast burning in the timber understory

-Georgetown Divide VMP will burn approximately 100 acres of piles of material from the Heavy Fire Equipment Operator Academy that was hosted last spring. The training provides realistic conditions for operators to be practiced and be evaluated on operating heavy equipment such as bulldozers. This fuels treatment also is a reduction of heavy fuel areas in the area and helps protect the community of Garden Valley. This would be done over several months as we did last year burning a unit or two per day.

-Growlersburg conservation camp will perform a broadcast burn of approximately 20 acres at GRB Camp. This burn helps with decreasing the competition between trees for vital resources to remain healthy. It also aids in creating a fuel break to help in the defense against large and damaging wildfire that could threaten the camp.

The fuels that are to be burned are Oak woodland and forest understory.

All of these VMPs are to be conducted with multiple crews and fire engines at the respective locations with notifications via local media outlets and social media. These projects also double as an opportunity for crews to train with live fire, as well as pre-fire engineers to continue to study the effects the drought has on the different types of plants and trees as to how they burn. “This is extremely important, being in the 5th year of a drought, we are seeing fires burn with a never seen before speed and intensity. The more opportunities we get to study and model the correlation between drought and fire intensity, the safer we can keep our fire crews and the public.” –Patrick McDaniel, AEU VMP Coordinator.

For more information visit the CAL FIRE Resource Management page on VMPs. http://calfire.ca.gov/resource_mgt/resource_mgt_vegetation

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