As wildfires continue to rage in Southern California, firefighters in Contra Costa County worked Thursday to reduce fire danger in the East Bay with a prescribed burn.
Deliberately setting fires under the right conditions has long been part of the state’s firefighting strategy. The Moraga-Orinda Fire Protection District conducted prescribed fire along the Moraga-Lafayette border.
The burn occurred near North Lucille Lane and Peacock Boulevard in Lafayette, in the open space behind homes.
“So this crew has been burning pile material that we worked on this past summer during this fuel break in East Bay Hills for a few weeks now,” explained Dennis Rein, Prescribed Fire Program Manager for the Moraga-Orinda Fire District.
Taking advantage of the ideal weather for the job, hand crews burned the debris that had been cleared over the past few months. It happened to the delight of concerned neighbors on the outskirts of Lafayette.
“It’s very comforting because my cousin just lost his house in Altadena,” said Karen, looking at the construction behind her house and thinking about her family in Southern California. “My cousin just saw his house on TV and noticed it had burned down. My other family members have been evacuated.”
Although there has been no fire at this location, the risk of wildfires has already affected residents here.
“We’ve all lost our insurance. One of the reasons would be a history of fire on this hill, but that’s not true,” said Greg Smith, who had to find an insurance company on the East Coast.
“It was really a shock to us because it just came out of the blue,” Smith said. “We all have different insurance companies and we all lost our insurance. I have to make an effort to get insurance. Luckily for most of us it worked out.”
But the work that took place on the hill Thursday was not defined by recent developments.
“We started work here back in 2019 with the project called the North Orinda shaded Fuel Break,” Rein said of the work.
KPIX handled that work when it launched in 2019. It was part of Gavin Newsom’s very first goal when he became governor. He declared a state of emergency, began purchasing new air resources, and launched a statewide risk management strategy that continues on these hills to this day.
But when Rein sees what’s happening in the Los Angeles area, he sees something that could overshadow anyone’s ability to prepare.
“Yes, if conditions are right for a wildfire,” Rein said. “I sympathize with the firefighters in Southern California. With the high winds, low humidity and no rain since the beginning of last year, it’s really a difficult situation there.”
So the work continues to reduce risk. And that is a job that is never actually finished.
“If you think about it, as soon as you cut the vegetation, it starts to grow back,” Rein said. “So once we take a fuel break, a shady fuel break, maintaining that is a problem.”
It’s not just a hand cruise. The fire brigade uses goats and cows and mechanical equipment to do as much work as possible in these types of open areas before the summer months. That means neighbors will see more of these prescribed burns, as long as weather permits.
