Is your house in a fire protection district? The answer is Maybe Not!
Published on Aug 23, 2010 - 5:50:56 AM
By: Charles Plopper, Paul Erickson, Pam Gill, Carole Scott, Eleanor Klemesrud, Richard Brand, Julien Howe and Charles Bourquin Concerned Citizens and Former Plumas Grand Jury Members
August 23, 2010 - “Does my home have fire protection?” As the 2009-2010 Plumas County Grand Jury has discovered, getting the answer to this question is not straightforward. The worst way to find out is by reporting to “911” a fire in your home or your neighbor’s home and then no one shows up to fight the fire. Just as bad, a fire crew may show up, but only to fight your house fire when it starts to burn into the surrounding forest. Alternatively, they may show up, fight the fire and then charge you for it.
There are no fire protection services for at least 4,631 (19%) parcels in Plumas County. You can’t be guaranteed of any fire fighting response if you live on one of these plots of land, which are all located outside of a Fire Protection District (FPD) or Community Services District (CSD). You may be billed for firefighting services if they are rendered. The 4,631 number is the minimum number, because each parcel is zoned to permit more than one home.
“What communities in Plumas County don’t have protection for house fires?” The list below represents whole communities outside of fire districts. It does not include all areas. It is important to contact your local fire department to verify your fire services.
Some Communities outside of Fire Protection Districts
Almanor Basin/North County Area
- Warner Valley
- Canyon Dam
- Humbug Valley
- Feather River Home site
- Willow Creek Home site
- Caribou
- Seneca
Quincy/Meadow Valley/Mid-County area
- Keddie
- Butterfly Valley
- Bucks Lake
- Spring Garden
- Little Grass Valley
Greenville/Indian Valley/Feather River
Canyon
- Storrie
- Tobin
- Belden
- Twain
- Paxton
- Rush Creek
Portola/Graeagle/South County area
- Clio
- Blairsden
- Johnsville
- Mohawk Vista
- Feather River Inn
- Dixie Valley
“How do I find out if my house has fire protection?” Every homeowner should contact the nearest fire house and ask very specific questions: Will they come to your home to fight a fire? Will they fight it once they get there? and Will they charge you?
Your house may be covered, but are your neighbors’? Their fire can quickly become yours!
Be aware when you contact them that fire fighting units of the US Forest Service (USFS), which may be the nearest station, are not authorized by USFS policy to fight fires in structures, but only fires in the wildlands (forests, grasslands). Their job is to protect the forests and not homes in rural areas.
“Who do I call?” According to the Plumas County Planning Department, there are 13 fire protection districts that, along with the city of Portola, operate volunteer fire departments. There are also seven Community Service Districts, which are “authorized to operate fire departments,” but may not actually be required to provide fire protection within their districts. These Community Service Districts may contract for fire services from adjacent volunteer fire protection districts. The table below lists the Fire Protection and Community Service Districts that fight house fires in Plumas County.
Plumas County Fire Districts including CSD/PUD’s providing Fire Protection
Fire Protection Districts
1. Beckwourth FPD (832-1008)
2. Chester PUD (258-3456)
3. City of Portola FPD (832-6803)
4. Crescent Mills FPD (284-6922)
5. Eastern Plumas FPD (832- 4818)
6. Graeagle FPD (836-1340)
7. Hamilton Branch FPD (596-3458)
8. La Porte FPD
9. Meadow Valley FPD (283-2620)
10. Peninsula FPD (259-2306)
11. Prattville-Almanor FPD (259-3822)
12. Quincy FPD (283-0870)
13. Sierra Valley FPD
Community Service Districts
1. C-Road CSD (836-0288)
2. Gold Mountain CSD (832-5945)
3. Greenhorn CSD (283-6450)
4. Indian Valley CSD (284-7311)
5. Long Valley CSD (836-2550)
6. Plumas Eureka CSD (836-0532)
7. West Almanor CSD (259-5112)
“What about CAL FIRE?” In all the counties surrounding Plumas and Sierra counties (Lassen, Tehema, Butte, Nevada), CAL FIRE has active fire stations that fight fires in houses outside of local fire districts, but not in Plumas County.
In round figures, two-thirds of the Plumas County land surface is part of the Plumas and Lassen National Forest. and Lassen Volcanic National Park; the remaining onethird is comprised of privately owned parcels of which a substantial majority are located in what California has designated as this county’s State Responsibility Area (SRA). Exceptions to this classification are parcels within Local Responsibility Areas (LRA) that include the land located in local fire protection districts, such as, within the City Limits of Portola, a relatively large area surrounding Chester, two small areas of several blocks each located in Quincy, and small areas near the fire houses in Graeagle, Whitehawk, Beckwourth, and Chilcoot. Plumas County’s SRA includes numerous approved subdivisions as well as privately owned forest production and agricultural parcels.
Superficially it would appear to be a “good thing” that a large number of Plumas County residents’ homes are located in designated SRA’s. Statewide CAL FIRE has an outstanding reputation for its emergency fire protection services.
However, CAL FIRE’s presence in Plumas County is extremely limited. CAL FIRE does not employ any emergency responders, nor does it house any firefighting equipment within the county.
In SRA’s in counties other than Plumas County, CAL FIRE has the fiscal responsibility for provision of the following services:
1. Insure fire safe conditions, based on California State fire codes (4290 and 4291), including road construction, signage, access, vegetation clearance, turnarounds, fuels reduction and defensible space, and water sources, by:
- Evaluation of plans for building permits and new developments
- Inspection of construction sites for new and remodeled homes
- Inspection and enforcement on properties with existing homes
2. Issuance and enforcement of burning permits.
3. Suppression of fires involving residences and other structures.
4. Suppression of fires in wildlands (grasslands and forests).
5. Repair of suppression related activity damage (e.g., spreading of dozer berms, installation of water bars, minor road repairs, minor fence repair, etc.) will be done as an integral part of overhaul/mop-up.
6. Operation of information and education programs including: Red Flag Alerts, press releases regarding fire management and risk, Smokey Bear, and local education.
CAL FIRE does not provide these services in Plumas County. “Who is supposed to provide this service if CAL FIRE doesn’t’?” The US Forest service is supposed to, based on a “Cooperative Fire Management Agreement” (CFMA) between the US Forest Service and CAL FIRE adopted 20 years ago in 1991. CAL FIRE traded off its Plumas County acreage emergency services responsibilities to the US Forest Service in exchange for acreage located somewhere else. The missions of the Federal and State agencies are quite different.
The US Forest Service attempts to protect the national forests, while CAL FIRE protects forests and also provides structural fire protection in locales where it has an active presence.
A recent memorandum from the Chief of the US Forest Service to Regional Foresters entitled “Wild Land Fire Suppression Policy for Structure Protection,” states that US Forest Service units are to “apply strategy and tactics to keep wildland fires from reaching structures, as prudent to do so.” However it also states:
“The Forest Service shall not:
- Take direct suppression actions on structures other than those that tactically reduce the threat of fire spread to them.
- Enter structures or work on roofs of structures for the purpose of direct suppression actions.”
Two recent house fires in SRA’s in Plumas County, outside of local fire protection districts, indicate some of the consequences of these policies. In one case, the only fire fighting unit to arrive was the USFS unit near Quincy. This fire fighting unit watched the house burn to the ground while being prepared to fight the fire should it threaten to spread into the adjacent national forest land. In the other case, the first fire fighting unit to arrive was from the nearest local fire protection district in Graeagle. The unit had trouble finding and reaching the house and actually getting around the structure to fight the fire, because the new home had been approved for occupancy without inspection or enforcement of state fire codes concerning roads, signage, turnarounds, clearance, etc. The house burned to the ground, but, because the destroyed residence was not in the fire protection district, the fire protection district billed the homeowners for the costs of sending the engines and crews to their home. In this case this cost was more than $20,000.
Download the report
http://yubanet.com/regional/Op-Ed-Frightening-Realities-About-Fire-in-Plumas-County.php
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