West Fire Pre-Fire Management Review 2010

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The West Fire started on July 28, 2010 at 14:14 hours. The fire was human caused and started along Blackburn Canyon Road 3 miles south of Highline Road. First arriving units reported a fast moving vegetation fire 1-2 acres in size with an immediate structure threat. Within the first 15 minutes the fire was exhibiting extreme fire behavior, with moderate duration crown runs and spotting a 1⁄2 mile ahead of the main fire and around several structures. The fire was burning in a north direction down canyon which is not typical for this area as the typical wind pattern is west to east. The fire cut off access to the heel of the fire for emergency equipment due to the one way access roads into the fire area. Although the fire resulted in the loss and damage to structures and watershed, there are some valuable lessons to be learned from this event about the value of fire planning and preparation.

Community overview. Old West Ranch is a community located south east of the town of Tehachapi, West of Willow Springs Road and North of Oak Creek Canyon. It is comprised of between 150-200 residences. About 60 of these are considered full time residences with the rest being used part time by vacationers. It is bordered on the east by several hundred windmills operated by two major wind energy corporations. The community itself is considered a rural community. In fact only a small portion of the residences have access to metered services (i.e. utilities, cable, phone). Its elevation ranges from 4500' to 6,800'. The road system is unpaved, primarily dirt and not much wider than 1 lane in most areas. The vegetation types range from oak woodlands in the lower elevations which then transitions to a scrub oak/pinon pine fuel type. This area is very dynamic do to its heavy mortality rate (>40%) in the pinon/grey pine stands and on average the fuel loading is in excess of 100 tons per acre (TPA). Other than a small lightning fire in 2005, the area has had no recorded fire history in over 110 years.

The Pre-Fire management process has been on- going for several years. In 2006, the Kern County Fire Department along with the Bureau of Land Management, and the Greater Tehachapi Fire Safe Council developed and adopted a Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP). The CWPP identified Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) areas and mitigation plans on how to reduce the threat of wildfires to the communities. Old West Ranch was identified as one of the areas and, in the next several years many hours were spent by Kern County Fire planning strategic vegetation management projects and mapping the community in preparation of a wildfire event. Vegetation management projects within the community of Old West Ranch started in 2004 with the Fire Safe Council receiving their first grant for vegetation management work. Kern County Fire crews spent the next two summers clearing overgrown vegetation along the major access roads in the the community. The project was called the Blackburn Canyon Escape Route. The project consisted of removing dead and overgrown vegetation limbing up existing live trees and removing dead trees within 25' of both sides of the road. The purpose of this project was to reduce the fuel build up along the side of the access roads to allow the residents a safe way to evacuate the community and allow emergency vehicles a safe way into the community. In 2010 another grant funded project was awarded to the Fire Department and the Fire Safe Council, (Blackburn/Mendenburu) .This project consisted of a 150' wide shaded fuel break along Wildhorse Ridge to the south of the community of Old West Ranch. Kern County fire crews along with the help of our masticator were able to complete the majority of the work in a twelve week time period. Both of these projects were used effectively in the efforts to control the West Fire. The shaded fuelbreak along Wildhorse Ridge stopped the southern progression of the fire with no re-enforcement and the escape route project proved to be invaluable in the evacuation and safety of the residents and the safety of emergency equipment accessing the fire.

Dip Tank installation. The dip tank program began in 2005 when several old tanks used for storage were donated to the Kern County Fire Department. The Fire Departments Air & Wildland Division then took the tanks and had them fabricated so that they would be accessible to helicopters to dip water out of them for firefighting. Several months of planning went into the strategic placement of the tanks; the areas that were given first priority were communities and areas that had no water for aerial fire suppression. Realizing that the nearest water source for air craft was greater than 5 air miles away there was a decision to dedicate dip tanks to that area. In 2006 two tanks were placed into service within the community of Old West Ranch. One of the tanks is located on the north end at the glider air port, and the other is on the east end of the community along Wildhorse Road.

Wildland Pre-Fire mapping was also used on the West Fire. This process was developed by the Kern County Fire Department to provide accurate intelligence and information to emergency responders from out of the area. The detailed maps include color coded roads identifying what type of engine the road is suited for useable fire water sources (i.e. water tanks, ponds, pools and hydrants) and their capacity, refill rates and the type of fitting required to access them. These maps also show the location of structures with accurate addresses, safety zones, and any other special information that would be needed during structure defense.

Defensible space was the key to structure survivability during this fire. During initial attack firefighters were battling an intensely burning, fast moving wildfire, with flame lengths in excess of 150' and numerous spot fires 1⁄4- 1⁄2 mile ahead of the main fire. There was no established water system in the community so limited water, extreme fire behavior, and spot fires made it difficult to adequately defend all structures. Kern County Fire Department enforces P.R.C. 4291 which states the requirement for all structures within the State Responsibility Area have a minimum of 100' of defensible space around their structure. In this case the minimum provided to be in adequate in areas and a greater area was required for due to the intensity of this fire. The 100' did suffice in some areas, but in the areas of extreme fire behavior larger clearances were needed to insure survivability.

The West fire proved to be challenging in many ways, and although there was loss and damage to structures and watershed a lot of positive lessons have been learned from the West Fire. Such as the importance of:

• Interagency collaboration and participation
• Community and Fire Safe Council partnership
• Planned Vegetation Management
• Pre-established dip sites for helicopters
• Community pre-fire mapping
• Adequately staffed Fire Crews, Helicopters and Dozers
• Adequate defensible space 100' minimum / >100' in areas with heavier fuel loading

For further information on the West Fire or any of the Wildland planning or projects, please contact Derrick Davis at 661-391-7000 or by email at dmdavis@co.kern.ca.us



Author:Kern County Fire Department Press Release