CALFIRE Status
On April 27, 2010 I met with CALFIRE Division Chief Richard
Sampson and his Fire Captain to discuss the damage to Deer Creek Rd. caused by
their bulldozer on April 17, 2010.
First of all they apologized for the incident. They explained that one of their trucks got
stuck on Ring Valley Road while trying to respond to an arson fire in our
area. They needed to retrieve the truck
because it left one of their stations short of the proper complement of
firefighting equipment. Their normal
retrieval equipment was responding to another incident and so the only one
available for the task was the larger D6 bulldozer which couldn’t be trucked in
because of the length of their trailer.
When I inquired about
how the roadway damage would be repaired by them, Rich Sampson replied that
because of budget cuts by the County and the State he is restricted from
spending funds to purchase repair materials other than those specifically
required for firefighting efforts.
He explained that we had three options:
1.
Petition the State for funds to repair the
damage. This claim will be denied
because the incident happened when CALFIRE operations were under Santa Cruz County
funding and not under the State funding which begins May 1.
2.
Submit
a claim to Santa Cruz County for funds to repair the damage. He explained the County is running a deficit
of $ 12.9 million and getting reimbursement is unlikely. He was aware of a recent claim arising from
the Swanton Rd. fire last summer and the claim was denied.
3.
He
suggested that he provide ‘in kind’ road grading and drainage improvements in
order to improve roadways so CALFIRE could better respond to potential fires in
our area. If this option were chosen, we
would pay for the actual repairs of the damaged asphalt.
We agreed to meet on May 11, 2010 for
a road tour to determine what roadways could be improved by CALFIRE.
On May 11, 2010 we met with Rich
Sampson and his Fire Captain for a road tour.
Our objective was to determine what road grading and drainage control
work they could perform to offset the costs of the road damage caused by their
bulldozer. Also attending from DCLI was
Mike Parnello, representing North Skyview to Kings Creek Truck Trail, Tys
Sniffen representing South Skyview to Two Bar Road, and Ron Chandik
representing the road from Jack’s Rd. to Los Cumbres through his properties. Additionally, I received inputs from John
Miller regarding Lost Valley Rd. and from Mac Marshall regarding South Skyview.
The following actions were agreed
upon:
1.
CALFIRE
will re-grade and do drainage control practices on Skyview Road from the
intersection of Ramble Rd. up to the gate at Kings Creek Truck Trail. Mike (and his posse) has agreed to do brush
removal and liming to create a Shaded Fuel Break along Skyview, particularly in
the heavily wooded area beyond Dominic Owens’ property to the Kings Creek Truck
Trail gate. I am checking with RCD and
The Natural Resources Conservation Service (Dept. of Agriculture) to see if
there are funds available to help with brush disposal or chipping. I’ll be meeting with them on Tues. May 1.
2.
We
did go South on Skyview with Tys to the gate at the top of Two Bar Rd. It was agreed that section is in good shape
(thanks to Mac’s efforts while building his house). However,
it could use some rock on the section from the intersection of Ramble and the
gate to the South just past Joy and Tony’s.
CALFIRE cannot pay for the rock.
CALFIRE did recommend the brush be removed from the sides of the road
since it is highly flammable.
3.
We
then traveled to Jack’s Rd. to determine the condition of the road from Jack’s
Rd. to Los Cumbres. CALFIRE wants to
make sure that road can be used to move firefighting equipment up or down
from/to Los Cumbres and that it be available as an emergency escape route for
DCLI landowners should a fire cut off our route to the South along Deer Creek
Rd. Everything looked OK for as far up
as we went. CALFIRE will take a look
from Los Cumbres downward.
4.
Next,
we investigated the condition of Lost Valley Rd. from the top of Hartman Creek
Rd. down to the Hernandez driveway (about 1/3 mile).
The very top was in fairly good shape
but as we got down toward the Hernandez driveway the road was not
passable. It was agreed that this
section would be re-graded with the addition of some drainage control
practices. Additionally, a large log
would be placed across the road to prevent unwanted traffic coming up from the
lower portions of Lost Valley Rd. CALFIRE
stated they felt this is an important route for access to a fire that may come
down from the North driven by the Fall offshore winds. This project will be conducted in August
providing CALFIRE is not out fighting a fire.
5.
Next,
we looked at the section of road from the first bridge, along the paintball
area and ending at the second bridge.
This is the area we had Jim Walters quote us $15,800 to rip, re-grade,
add 1 ˝” drain rock, water and roll.
CALFIRE agreed to rip, re-grade, water and possible roll (depending on
equipment availability). We will have to
purchase any rock that we want spread on that section. As a side note, we will install the culvert that
was approved by the membership before any grading work is done. The schedule for the culvert project will be
early June and the re-grading sometime after that.
Tom Bird,
Road Manager
May 26, 2010