CAL FIRE awards two Local Fire Prevention Grants to Nevada County agencies

March 10, 2020 – According to a CAL FIRE news release, CAL FIRE (California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection) this week awarded $43.5 million dollars to local organizations to reduce the risk of wildfires to homes and communities across California. Fifty-five local fire prevention projects are receiving funding for hazardous fuel reductions, wildfire preparedness planning and fire prevention education.

Two of the projects are located in Nevada County:

Truckee Fire Protection District’s Truckee Fuel Reduction project has been awarded $1,500,000.

The Truckee CWPP dictates working with multiple community subdivisions and organizations to diminish the vertical and horizontal continuity of fuels, thus diminishing fire behavior. This project will facilitate vegetation management on Town of Truckee right of ways and individual shaded fuel breaks that occur on approximately 8,000 acres of WUI with approximately 7,200 habitable structures in the Truckee Fire Protection District and the Town of Truckee. By decreasing fire intensity, the amount of greenhouse gas emissions will decrease. Vegetation treatments create increased growth in the remaining vegetation increasing carbon sequestration. This will create a net carbon benefit over time.

The Nevada County Department of Public Works’ Egress/Ingress Fire Safety Project has been awarded $868,084.

By removing hazardous fuel along public roads (all are in or directly connected to SRA’s), the amount of fire potential around 42 Communities At Risk, homes, infrastructure and other highly valued resources will be significantly reduced by an estimated 900 CY of biomass. The reduction along County roads will improve the health and resilience of treated areas for increased carbon sequestration, support wildfire planning efforts and implementation, and improve public awareness thereby reducing human ignitions. Per the prescribed treatment, greenhouse gas emissions will be minimized by use of hand and mechanical vegetation removal techniques which will provide a prolonged benefit.