The 69,636-acre Rocky Fire and the 14,000-acre Jerusalem Fire in Lake County are examples of the massive damage wildfires cause. The fires have destroyed 43 homes and 53 outbuildings and have resulted in scores of evacuations. More than 3,000 firefighters were involved in fighting the massive Rocky Fire at a cost of tens of millions of dollars.
The irony of all this is that these fires could have been prevented with a little planning by our governmental agencies. It’s called control burning. We often hear the term “control burning” but a lot of people don’t know what it means. Just about all the control burning is carried out by either the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), California Division Of Forestry (CDF) or the U.S. Forest Service. The purpose of control burning is to burn old brush and create new habitat for wildlife and to prevent huge wildlife fires by creating burn corridors that will contain a wildlife. Most of the control burning takes place during the fall and winter months when the chance of the fire spreading is at a minimum.
The actual control burning is a simple affair. The managers of the forest lay out an area to be burned and a helicopter is rigged with a barrel containing a flammable jelly-like substance suspended from a cable. The jelly is set afire and the helicopter drags the barrel over the brush, setting the fire. Most control burns are laid out in a mosaic pattern — leaving cover for wildlife.
The cost to control burn is a pittance compared to the cost of fighting a wildfire.
For example, the big danger to Lakeport is the Cow Mountain Recreation Area — a 60,000-acre brush patch just west of town. The residents of Lakeport received a scare in 1982 when a small fire started in Mendocino County near Talmage, which is on the eastern boundary of the area. Within two days the fire had burned all the way across the mountain and into the outskirts of Lakeport.
While the damage to homes in that fire was minimal, many new homes have been built on the rim of the Cow Mountain area in the 33 years since then. If the same fire occurred today, there could be a loss of life as well as property.
There has been virtually no control burning in that area since the 1982 fire. Cow Mountain is also a virtual desert in regard to wildlife. The brush is so old and thick that very few animals live there.
Why hasn’t control burning been done to protect the City of Lakeport and county and provide habitat for wildlife? The answer is simple. The governmental agencies responsible for control burning can’t agree on when and how to do the burning. Just the process of getting an agreement on when to burn is mind-boggling. First there has to be permission from Air Quality Control because of the smoke the fire causes. Then the BLM has to obtain funding. Coordination with CDF also must be done. Fear of liability if the control burn turns into a wildfire is another factor. This results in a small window of time when control burning can be done. Year after year there are plans to control burn South Cow Mountain but all such burns have been canceled.
The only certainty is if control burning isn’t done, then nature will do it for us … and at a much greater cost. There is no doubt the fire on Cow Mountain is coming. It may be five or 10 years before it happens, either through lightning or other means, but it will surely happen. We should have learned our lesson during the recent Rocky and Jerusalem fires.
It’s not just the range fires that present a danger. Fires in residential areas around the county could result in a disaster and most of the them could be prevented. The county needs to come up with a plan that requires homeowners living on fewer than five acres to keep their grass cut. A drive through any residential area will show dozens of backyards with dead grass that is waist or shoulder high. A cigarette tossed in that grass from a passing car could easily start a roaring fire. The City of Lakeport has dozens of yards with dead grass. In fact, there is one located next to the county courthouse. The same dangerous conditions can be found throughout the county. The local fire departments should inspect and cite people who don’t keep their grass cut. It would be a simple solution to a growing problem.
