Plumas County Cal-TREX Public Information
The Plumas County Fire Safe Council and our partners look forward to bringing a Prescribed Fire Training Exchange (TREX) event to Plumas County.
This event has been a multi-year effort to utilize fire to restore forest health, reduce hazardous fuels around communities, and provide access to training and skills development for local residents and professionals.
The TREX model provides a framework for planning, collaboration, incident management, and liability control.
The individuals and organizations working on this event acknowledge that fire risk and hazardous air quality has been impacting Plumas County residents for an extended period of time. The goal of the project, and the ongoing use of prescribed fire, is to mitigate the potential for these impacts in the future. This fall will likely provide a narrow window of opportunity to safely utilize prescribed fire to meet those objectives.
"We have to assume that every year is going to be like this year. We need to be proactive or we are all going to get burned." - Brad Graevs, TREX Private Lands Operations Manager and District Manager for the Feather River Resource Conservation District
The Fire Safe Council is interested in comments and concerns from community members. You can use the form below to register your comments and we will make every effort to follow-up with you.
Community Meetings:
Feather River College, October 22nd 4-6pm, on "the green" behind the library
Heart K Ranch Main House, Genesee Date TBD
A brief list of FAQs is listed below.
This event has been a multi-year effort to utilize fire to restore forest health, reduce hazardous fuels around communities, and provide access to training and skills development for local residents and professionals.
The TREX model provides a framework for planning, collaboration, incident management, and liability control.
The individuals and organizations working on this event acknowledge that fire risk and hazardous air quality has been impacting Plumas County residents for an extended period of time. The goal of the project, and the ongoing use of prescribed fire, is to mitigate the potential for these impacts in the future. This fall will likely provide a narrow window of opportunity to safely utilize prescribed fire to meet those objectives.
"We have to assume that every year is going to be like this year. We need to be proactive or we are all going to get burned." - Brad Graevs, TREX Private Lands Operations Manager and District Manager for the Feather River Resource Conservation District
The Fire Safe Council is interested in comments and concerns from community members. You can use the form below to register your comments and we will make every effort to follow-up with you.
Community Meetings:
Feather River College, October 22nd 4-6pm, on "the green" behind the library
Heart K Ranch Main House, Genesee Date TBD
A brief list of FAQs is listed below.
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FAQs:How can I stay informed about TREX burns?
Plumas County Fire Safe Council and Feather River RCD Facebook pages will be regularly updated during the event. Updates will be sent to Plumas News. You can use the form at the left to register your interest in updates and you will be added to an email list. Who is the responsible party for the planned burn(s)? The TREX burns are planned on both public and private lands. On public lands, a qualified burn boss from Plumas National Forest will be responsible for burn day operations. On private lands a nationally qualified burn boss from the Nature Conservancy will lead burn day operations. |
What conditions will be considered safe to burn?
Each of the potential burn units is included in a burn plan that stipulates the range of temperatures, humidity, and winds that are tolerable based on the site conditions and the burn objectives. These burn plans have been professionally developed and are strictly adhered to.
What if it is not safe to burn during the event dates?
The TREX event is designed to be a learning experience for prescribed fire practitioners. Ideally training includes utilizing live fire. However, several alternative training day activities have been developed if conditions are not favorable for burning. If a burn window is not available, the prepped burn units may be burned in the spring or next fall.
Where will the burn(s) take place?
There are burn units prepped in Meadow Valley at Spanish Ranch, in Quincy on the Feather River College Campus, in Genesee Valley on the Heart K ranch, and several locations on the Feather River Ranger District. The specific units that will be burned as part of this event is highly dependent on the weather and site conditions at the time. Fuel moisture in each area will be monitored prior to the event to assist with unit selection.
What air quality impacts can be expected?
Prescribed fire will create smoke. As opposed to wildfire, smoke impacts from prescribed fire can be mitigated by burning in favorable fuel and wind conditions. Every effort will be made to reduce smoke impacts to communities from this event. We hope that residents will tolerate smoke that is encountered as a short-term impact that is intended to reduce the more long-term air quality impacts from wildfire.
Each of the potential burn units is included in a burn plan that stipulates the range of temperatures, humidity, and winds that are tolerable based on the site conditions and the burn objectives. These burn plans have been professionally developed and are strictly adhered to.
What if it is not safe to burn during the event dates?
The TREX event is designed to be a learning experience for prescribed fire practitioners. Ideally training includes utilizing live fire. However, several alternative training day activities have been developed if conditions are not favorable for burning. If a burn window is not available, the prepped burn units may be burned in the spring or next fall.
Where will the burn(s) take place?
There are burn units prepped in Meadow Valley at Spanish Ranch, in Quincy on the Feather River College Campus, in Genesee Valley on the Heart K ranch, and several locations on the Feather River Ranger District. The specific units that will be burned as part of this event is highly dependent on the weather and site conditions at the time. Fuel moisture in each area will be monitored prior to the event to assist with unit selection.
What air quality impacts can be expected?
Prescribed fire will create smoke. As opposed to wildfire, smoke impacts from prescribed fire can be mitigated by burning in favorable fuel and wind conditions. Every effort will be made to reduce smoke impacts to communities from this event. We hope that residents will tolerate smoke that is encountered as a short-term impact that is intended to reduce the more long-term air quality impacts from wildfire.