Amador-El Dorado Unit

Today marks the beginning of Wildfire Fire Awareness Week.  CAL FIRE is reminding Californians that when it comes to wildfires, remember ?Ready, Set, Go!?. Be Ready for a wildfire by maintaining 100 feet of Defensible Space and hardening your home with fire resistant building materials. Be Set for a wildfire by having a wildfire action plan in place so you know what to take and where to go if you are evacuated. Lastly, Go early when a wildfire approaches or you are asked to evacuate.  For more information please click here.

Camino ? The time is now to begin working on clearing defensible space around your home. Living in the Sierra?s comes with a responsibility that many urban/suburban dwellers do not face, from the lower foothills covered in annual grasses that can reach several feet in height, to oak woodlands and on to forests of timber reaching 7000 feet in elevation; the Amador-El Dorado Unit of CAL FIRE covers it all. From Rancho Murrietta in Sacramento County to Markleeville in Alpine County, north to Georgetown in El Dorado County and south to Jackson in Amador County, the geography changes dramatically across this spectrum. The common thread to all of these areas and everything in between is more…

Camino ? ?Having your home catch on fire is devastating enough, but if you live in a mobile or modular home your risk of a house fire is increased due to the types of materials used in its construction.  Your risk of dying in a mobile or manufactured home fire is 30- 44% higher than someone who lives in a one or two family wood framed dwelling.  So what can you do to prevent yourself from becoming a statistic?  Click here for more information.

The Consumer Products Safety Commission has announced a recall of LED light bulbs due to a fire hazard.  Please click here for details.

Are you traveling this holiday season and staying in a motel or hotel? If you or someone you know will be on the road and staying overnight away from home there are life-saving pointers to keep in mind. Amador-El Dorado Unit Chief Kelly Keenan cautions that “hotels and motels often become our “home away from home” but we need to be proactive to keep ourselves and family members safe in these places. Statistically, one out of every 12 hotels/motels reports a fire every year. Please take a moment to review the following information; it could prevent a holiday tragedy.”   MORE

“A dry tree can become fully engulfed in flames in a matter of 3-5 seconds, in another 30-40 seconds everything in your room can be ablaze. To see a video on what a Christmas tree on fire can do, go to http://www.fire.nist.gov/tree_fire.htm it is a very sobering video” states Unit Chief Kelly Keenan of the Amador-El Dorado Unit of CAL FIRE who adds “Christmas trees cause approximately 240 house fires each year in this country resulting in $16.7 million dollars in direct property loss. Although these types of fires are not common, when they occur they are costly and often deadly” cautions Chief Keenan. “Electrical problems caused one-third of these fires so check the wiring and lights carefully, making sure the lights are UL listed before placing them on the tree. Another 20% of these fires are caused by a heat source too close to the tree so be sure your tree is not too close to your fireplace, woodstove, space heater or any other heat source” adds Chief Keenan.  MORE

The holiday season is upon us and life can get a little crazy trying to prepare for it. Before the onslaught of family, friends, cooking and shopping, “take a few minutes to think about fire safety. This may sound obvious but with the crazy pace of the holidays, reminding ourselves to “think fire safety” can help avert a holiday disaster” cautions the Amador-El Dorado Unit Chief Kelly Keenan who adds “every year we respond to fires that occur when someone has been distracted. Leaving cooking food on a stove or in an oven and forgetting about it after you leave the kitchen is the leading cause of house fires. Forgetting to blow out lit candles before leaving a room or placing decorations or packages too close to a wood stove or other heat source also cause numerous house fires. In this “connected” world we live in, we are often multitasking around the clock. Whether it is texting family and friends directions to your home while cooking a holiday meal for 20 people and taking advantage of great internet sales all from your smartphone, all too often we are preoccupied with several things at any given time. Take a few minutes to review these common sense fire and life safety principles with friends and family. It could save your life and the lives of your loved ones.”   MORE

The Amador-El Dorado Unit of CAL FIRE will be conducting a series of Vegetation Management Program (VMP) burn projects in El Dorado County. The first project is located in the Auburn Lake Trails perimeter shaded fuel break outside the town of Cool. The second project is the Bacchi VMP and it is located on the Bacchi Ranch north of Marshal Road and Prospectors Road in Garden Valley. The final project is the Pine Hill Preserve Project which is located at the end of Pine Hill Road in Rescue. All three projects will entail burning piles that were prepared this past summer by CAL FIRE dozers and hand crews.  More…

 On Tuesday October 23rd, at 8 am, the Amador?El Dorado Unit (AEU) of CAL FIRE will rescind the burn restrictions due to the current and expected weather pattern which will allow homeowners to properly burn their debris piles that have accumulated over the summer. Unit Chief Kelly Keenan cautions “if the weather does a 180° turn and it heats up and dries out the vegetation, we could end up suspending burn permits again.”   more…