Agencies and Owners Working on Fire Prevention in Fresno County

FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) — Memorial Day began with flames near Millerton Lake.

Dawn Irving has described the frightening moments she was told to evacuate.

“He says, 'You need to evacuate,' and he says, 'NOW!' just like that, and I say, 'Okay! I'm out of here.' Because no one has ever been like this before,” Irving said.

Irving and neighbors along Sky Harbor Road had to evacuate as more than 40 firefighters used bulldozers and dropped fire retardant from the air.

Irving said she prepares for times like Monday, keeping her bags packed and ready in case of an evacuation.

When Cal Fire stopped by her home earlier this year to take steps to protect her home, she took their recommendations very seriously.

“The first thing we do is weed and keep everything,” Irving said. “They say, I think, 100 feet? I'm going 200 feet; I'm not taking any chances because I'm at the top of a hill, and he's going to come up the hill really fast, so I'm very careful.”

No one was injured and the fire did not destroy any homes.

CAL FIRE has a variety of tools available when fires break out.

“There are always multiple fire engines, planes, bulldozers and crews,” said Seth Brown with CAL FIRE/Fresno County Fire.

“We're sending all of that to the fires and our strategy is to put out the fire as quickly as possible. Public safety is our number one priority.”

The U.S. Forest Service works alongside CAL FIRE and other agencies on fire prevention, including using prescribed burns to remove dead grass and other flammable brush.

Spokeswoman Adrienne Freeman said the U.S. Forest Service has always created fire suppression plans, but they have made some updates since the Creek Fire in 2017, as the joint effort to eliminate fuels.

“We have seen a lot of progress over the past few years that allows us to work jointly with the private sector as well as our public partnerships,” Freeman said.

“That includes things like being able to start putting out fires on forest lands and things like that, which help preserve resources and keep communities safe.”

Irving wants visitors to Millerton Lake to think about how their behavior and choices impact those who live in the hills above the lake, especially when they use fireworks or leave flammable objects behind. proximity.

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