Marysville Road Fire
Marysville Road
Fire Success Story
The Yuba Watershed Protection and Fire Safe Council was formed in 1997 by
through the efforts of
Yuba County Supervisor, Hal Stocker.
It was precipitated by
the devastating Williams fire
that destroyed nearly 100 Yuba
County
homes and
buildings. The Council is made up of
state and federal agencies, county government, private timber landowners,
local
Fire Protection
Districts, and community members.
This
Council developed fuel reduction plans and secured
1.7 million dollars in
grant funding
during the past 10 years for fire prevention
work in Yuba
County.
One of the projects was funded by State Water Resources Board
Proposition 204 to construct the Oregon Ridge fuelbreak that featured
cooperative work with
private timber landowners CHY, Soper/Wheeler, and Siller Brothers. The
Marysville fire burned to that fuel break and was stopped there.
Many trees in the fuel break appear to have survived, and the fuel
break itself provided a safer place for the firefighters to work.
During
threatening periods of
this
raging fire, much of the firefighting effort was done using hose
lays around the fire and water drops from helicopters. The helicopters got
their water from Lake
Frances. This lake would
not now be there if the Yuba County Water Agency had not put our
citizen safety from fire above the extreme cost of
restoring it. The water tenders and fire trucks also got water from Lake
Frances
and additionally from the only fire hydrant in Dobbins/Oregon House. The
Dobbins/Oregon House Improvement Foundation has
incorporated
a 30,000 gallon water tank
into their projects
that gravity feeds a fire hydrant directly
across from the Dobbins/Oregon House Volunteer Fire Station. Also the Setzer
Foundation worked with
the
Yuba County 4H Council to
provide
a 10,000 gallon storage tank and hydrant
on
the 4H
Camp
property
up the hill on
the
Oregon Ridge. All these water sources provided fire fighter water
for
fire suppression
in an area of
otherwise
limited water sites
availability
for fire fighting
this purpose. Also, the fire was
first reported by volunteers in the lookout tower on Oregon Peak.
Map of
Fire (PDF)
All these coordinated prevention activities helped to limit,
or actually prevent,
fire's damage to homes, trees and the watershed.
What happened here
is
truly
a testament to pre fire planning and implementation of
mitigation and prevention
projects. The Yuba Watershed
Protection & Fire Safe Council continues to work with the Calif. Department
of Forestry and Fire Protection,
the
US Forest Service and the Yuba County Office of Emergency
Services to plan and construct more fuel reduction projects to
make the Yuba County Foothills a safer place to live.
If you would like to join the Council in these fire prevention
efforts, contact Jim Johnson at 274-6453.
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