NEVADA CITY, Calif. March 1, 2019 – Read news stories detailing the causes of catastrophic wildfires in our area, then look out on your overgrown backyard and be discouraged by the sheer magnitude of the problem. That doesn’t sound very appealing, right? We have a better proposition for you: Come for the movies, get answers to your questions and leave inspired.
Join us on Wednesday, March 6 at the Nevada Theatre starting at 5:15 pm for an evening of reality check, answers and tools to tackle a common foe – too much fuel all around us.
The Nevada County Resource Conservation District and Nevada County Office of Emergency Services are partnering for the free public screening of Fire and Forest Health: Your Tahoe National Forest alongside the timely Wilder than Wild: Fire, Forest and the Future.
To secure your seat, please retrieve your free ticket on Eventbrite at: ReadyNevadaCounty.Eventbrite.com. Doors will open at 4:45 pm and the films will begin promptly at 5:15 pm.
At 6:45 pm, the audience in the theater, listeners of KVMR, KNCO and the livestream viewers of Nevada County Media Channel 18, The Union and YubaNet – that’s you – will have a panel of experts at their disposal to get answers to your questions. If you are watching the program from the comfort of your home or at a watch party, feel free to email your questions to townhall@yubanet.com. The program will end at 8:00 pm.
The panel – composed of representatives of Nevada County Office of Emergency Services, Nevada County Resource Conservation District, CAL FIRE, U.S. Forest Service, Fire Safe Council of Nevada County, Pacific Gas & Electric, University of California Cooperative Extension, Nevada County Sheriff’s Office and your local fire departments – will answer your questions.
All questions and answers, including those not answered during the live event due to time constraints, will be made available a few days after the event on the Nevada County OES website and other venues, including your local media.
The wake up calls keep coming, no more hitting the snooze button
Maybe you were not directly affected by the Wind Complex fires in 2017 but you remember the smoke-filled skies and the disruption caused to Nevada County residents. At the same time, the Wine Country fires destroyed 9,000 buildings and took 44 lives. Last November, the Camp Fire in neighboring Butte County destroyed 18,804 structures and claimed 85 lives.
You see projects along the roadside, on public properties that make a dent in the dense brush. Your local first responders, agencies and non-profits are collaborating to reduce the fuel load and make our community safer. Nevada County has convened a stakeholder group to track state and federal funding opportunities, 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. From the stakeholder group, smaller working groups will focus on various initiatives, such as public awareness and education and evacuation planning/preparedness, to continue progress in wildfire prevention efforts.
Get involved!
Bringing the fuel load back to more manageable levels and thereby reducing the risk of catastrophic wildfires will take time, money and all of us.
Talk to your neighbors about wildfire awareness, have a work party, make sure everyone is signed up for CodeRED emergency alerts and organize.
Attend the monthly Wildfire Preparedness Speaker Series workshops in the Board Chambers of the Rood Center, 950 Maidu Ave, Nevada City, from 6:00-7:30 PM to learn more. These workshops will be live-streamed on Nevada County Digital Media Center’s Channel 18 and the Nevada County Office of Emergency Services Facebook page.
Follow our 25-week series Preparing for Wildfire Season in Nevada County, where we tackle one portion of wildfire preparedness a week.
See you on Wednesday!