By Toni Scott
The Chico Enterprise-Record (California)
FEATHER FALLS, Calif. — With the ash and blackened trees from the Craig Fire still present in Feather Falls, the community is moving forward with projects to reduce the threat of future wildfires.
The Craig Fire, which started Aug. 3, scorched 2,001 acres of land near the small town of Feather Falls, east of Oroville. It was contained Aug. 11, after destroying one structure and an outbuilding.
While the majority of the land affected is owned by Sierra Pacific Industries and the Bureau of Land Management, the close proximity of the blaze to the community has encouraged already fire-conscious residents to further protect themselves.
Using grant money secured by the Butte County Fire Safe Council, work on a new one-mile fuel break began recently and will continue over the next few months.
The break will clear 20 acres of brush and dense trees along Lumpkin Road and near the Feather Falls School and Grange, with $89,000 provided by the Sierra Nevada Conservancy, a state agency.
Combined with work that has previously been completed along the road, the new clearing will bring the community’s entire fuel break to eight miles.
“The project protects the watershed, provides access for firefighters, creates an escape route for residents and is an educational tool that allows people to learn about the Feather Falls Fire Safe Council,” said Calli-Jane Burch, Butte County Fire Safe Council executive director.
On Wednesday a group of individuals, including Butte County Supervisor Bill Connelly and Jake Albright, Feather Falls Fire Council chairman, looked at the site of the Craig Fire while hearing about the community’s work toward fire protection.
Standing near blackened logs, Connelly said the fuel break was one example of what communities should do to protect themselves from wildfire.
“We need to look at the future and maintain and manage programs that will help the community,” Connelly said. “We need to concentrate on safety and it will grow from there.”
Fifty-seven homes near Feather Falls were threatened during the Craig Fire, Albright’s being one of them. Though the blaze burned only a small spot on his land, he said at one point he feared for his home.
“I really thought my house was gone,” Albright said. “It was unnerving. I always knew, living here, it was a possibility, but you never think its really going to happen.”
Albright was lucky, but acknowledges that the community needs to be prepared for when a wildfire hits, not if.
Connelly said the best way to do that was through projects like the fuel break, sponsored by local fire safe councils.
“A fire safe council is a tool that can bring the community together,” Connelly said. “When a community joins together, things get done.”
Copyright 2008 MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers
All Rights Reserved