Kern Valley Sun 
Published on Wednesday, May 30, 2012 12:00 AM PDT

The Kern River Valley Fire Safe Council is a non-profit charitable organization incorporated in November 2002. The Council applies for and receives federal grant funding, either directly or through the California Fire Safe Council clearinghouse. The Council has obtained approximately $1,500,000 in grant funding through the National Fire Plan supported by the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, and completed fuel reduction projects in collaboration with the Kern County Fire Department on approximately 400 acres of private lands in the Kern River Valley. During 2012 maintenance (some of the projects were completed ten years ago) will be completed on the original 400 acres of projects, and new fuel reduction will be completed on an additional 150 acres.

Our vision to “Create a wildland fire safe community in the Kern River Valley”, has been demonstrated (Bull Fire), and we constantly endeavor to providing awareness through education and information exchange. Our success is in no small part the result of collaboration and coordination with the Forest Service, the BLM , and Kern County Fire Department. We have a Community Wildfire Protection Plan (www.krvfiresafecouncil.org), and a combined fuel reduction plan that is updated annually. Our collaborative approach has allowed even greater effectiveness of our fuel reduction projects on private lands by connecting with those completed by the Forest Service and the BLM on federal lands.

The Council sponsors approximately five Chipper Days each spring to assist homeowners in completing their defensible space compliance requirements. Two publications are available to guide homeowners in protecting their property and homes from wildland fire: Living With Fire and Ready, Set, Go. Our classroom programs in the local schools are designed to provide our youth an awareness of wildland fire and fire safety.

What can you do for the Kern River Valley?

We can enjoy living in the Wildland Urban Interface. But, you too must help and contribute!

Make your home and property fire safe. You live next to the Wildland Urban Interface. You need to consider:

• Access to your property

• A defensible space around your home in which the firefighters can work safely to protect your home

• The susceptibility of your home to outside ignition sources

• Fire sources and safety within your home.

Making your property and home fire safe helps make the entire community fire safe. Your individual awareness and willingness can then be leveraged to make our entire community fire safe.

The Kern River Valley Fire Safe Council orchestrates wildland fire protection programs and projects. The collaboration with Kern County Fire Department, the Forest Service, and the BLM has allowed us to have an extremely effective program. Now, you too need to do your part for the benefit of all!

Lloyd Smith , President, Kern River Valley Fire Safe Council

Click here to open PDF file of this publication

The Kern River Valley Fire Safe Council has been working to protect residents of the Kern River Valley for over ten years. Formed in 2000 the Council enjoys a high level of partner collaboration with the Kern County Fire Department, Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, Camp Erwin Owen, private business, and valley residents. Our vision is to "Create a wildland fire safe community in the Kern River Valley". We will do this by "Providing awareness through education and information exchange, and facilitate interagency coordination, fire protection and fire safety projects within Kern River Valley".

The Kern River Valley Fire Safe Council was incorporated as 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable organization since 2004. Including projects completed in 2010, the Council has obtained approximately $1.7M in grant funding through the California Fire Safe Council clearinghouse sponsored by the National Fire Plan and supported by the Forest Service and BLM for fuel reduction projects in the Kern River Valley.

The Board of Directors of the Council are elected annually by the Stakeholders (anyone in the valley that wants to participate). The 2011 Board of Directors are: Terry Bolt, Don Davis, Tom Gelder (Secretary), Christine Hancock, Gordon Hancock, Sharon Rooney (Treasurer), Ed Royce and Lloyd Smith (President). Volunteers are always welcome if you would like to help out on one of our committees. The Board of Directors provides for the day-to-day operation of the Council. They meet electronically each month through the use of email. The Stakeholder's meetings are held quarterly in February, May, August, and November at 9:30 AM to 11:30 AM on the third Thursday of the month in Supervisor McQuiston's conference room in the Kern County building in Lake Isabella.

Our major projects this year are completion of Phase III of a Bodfish Canyon Fuelbreak, completion of the Burma Interagency Extension Fuelbreak, initiation of the Lake Isabella Community Defense Zone, initiation of the Mountain Shadows Community Interagency Defense Zone, and continuation of the Alta Sierra and Wofford Heights Fuels Reduction project. Our grant funded fuel reduction projects are executed by the Kern County Fire Department fuel reduction crews. Ed Royce is our grants committee chairman.

Since April 2003 the Council has sponsored 37 Chipper Days in the communities and neighborhoods throughout the Kern River Valley. Chipper Days are an extremely important part of the Council's activities, helping residents prepare defensible space around their homes. Chipper Days in 2011 will be conducted in two formats: neighborhood planned chipper day events, and roving chipper days scheduled in the various communities. Don Davis is our chipper day committee chairman.

Our educational program will be significantly expanded this year in the classrooms of our community schools and throughout the community. We will have in classroom programs and projects to increase the awareness of our children to the issues of wildland fire. We also have our roadside signs providing fire safe messages for residents and visitors coming into the valley. Terry Bolt is our education committee chairman.

We have two special projects that we are undertaking this year. The Living With Fire publication, providing tips on how to create an access zone, develop defensible space, protect the home ignition zone, and assess the interior zone. This publication is being produced in collaboration with the Kern Valley Sun for wide distribution during Wildfire Awareness Week, 2-6 May. Lloyd Smith is leading this special project. We also have a special project this year to create some defensible space demonstrations that are highly visible to the public. These projects will be posted, providing Valley residents realistic models of defensible space. This special project is being coordinated by Christine and Gordon Hancock.

Financial contributions are always welcomed and fully tax-deductible. The funds from our grant projects are earmarked for a specific activity or for the support of grant administration by a fire professional. They do not generally support the Council's educational activities, nor do they cover council operating costs, the largest item being the non-project related part of our liability insurance. If you would like to donate to the Kern River Valley Fire Safe Council contact Tom Gelder, our fund raising committee chairman.

Bull Fire -- Kernville, CA July 26, 2010

The smoke column billows from decadent riparian forest along Bull Run Creek. Bull pines torch, throwing hot embers to leap frog. Flames venturi on northwest breezes toward our homes, at the steep end of Burma Road.

Firefighters used community fuel breaks to keep the Bull Fire from sneaking in Kernville's back door that Monday afternoon. In a watershed famous for 150,000-acre wildfires, some would say we were lucky. I would disagree.

Fire clearances around the neighborhoods at the end of Burlando Road had been clearly visible. Firewise property owners had worked hard cutting brush, weed-eating and raking grass, limbing trees. The Fire Safe Council had obtained the grant money, and fire crews had done the work of constructing the fuel breaks.

As the fire is coming over the hill at us Monday afternoon, two dozers, then Rio Bravo Hotshots park big fire trucks among our homes. Silently cheering them on, hope returns as we pack valuables into cars. Dozers tie the fuel breaks to roads. And Rio Bravo works the edge of the flames to stop the Bull at Burma Road. Those firewise fuel breaks made it possible for them to pinch off this corner of the Bull Fire -- 16,000 acres of wildfire that did Not get Burma Road.

Beyond luck! For the fuel breaks to defend our neighborhoods, Thank You to the Kern Valley Fire Safe Council -- a volunteer community organization, Sequoia National Forest, and Kern County Fire. To all the firefighters who battled the Bull -- Thank You.

Special Thanks: To BLM and KRN dozer operators Mitch Wylie and Scotty Davis and their crews. To Jimmy Rocha, Shawn Burke, Jake Carver and their 2010 lineup of Rio Bravo Hotshots for materializing out of the smoke at the right place, just in time.

Thank You -- Linda Adams & John Newman, Burma Road homeowners

Read the full public report on the Bull Fire: Bull Fire Follow-Up Public Report 
(2 MB PDF file)

To report a fire in progress, call 911 immediately.