The Amador Fire Safe Council is reminding citizens to take advantage of funding still available for defensible space grants. The grants are available for qualified full time county residents who are low to moderate income seniors age 65 and older, or disabled full time residents. Defensible space is considered to be the area around a structure that has been landscaped to reduce fire danger. This space reduces the risk that fire will spread to the structure, and also provides firefighters a relatively safe area in which to work while protecting the structure. Cathy Koos Breazeal, Executive Director of the Fire Safe Council, says the recent wildfires that swept Southern California are a perfect example of defensible space at work. Homes cleared for defensible space had a far higher success rate in surviving the fires. The Council was originally granted 150,000 dollars in grants last fall with the commitment that they would raise matching funds of 75,000 dollars. The funding was predicted to cover some 140 homes. Breazeal says there is still funding available for 35 to 40 homes. Fund availability will expire in August or when funding is no longer available. If you think you qualify and would like to apply, contact Cathy Koos Breazeal at 296-6220.

Two major vehicle accidents occurred over the weekend, with one ending in a fatality. The first occurred early Sunday afternoon on Stoney Creek Road north of Buena Vista Road. According to the California Highway Patrol, a 38-year old Stockton man was riding his motorcycle at about 35 mph when he saw gravel in the road, applied his brakes hard, causing his motorcycle to swerve in front of a car driven by a 26-year old Valley Springs woman. She was unable to avoid hitting the motorcyclist head-on – the Stockton man was pronounced dead at the scene.

The second accident occurred on Sutter Creek Volcano Road late Sunday afternoon. According to witnesses, the driver of this car drifted off the side of the road east of Greenstone Road, over the embankment until it struck a tree. The driver was said to have been unconscious for some period of time and medics called for a helicopter which took Patricia Jolley, 57, of Sutter Creek to Mercy San Juan Hospital. CHP later arrested Jolley for driving under the influence of alcohol. pm Bill Lavallie contributed to this story. 

 

Fog and speed too high for the conditions were the cause of an accident Thursday night, according to Amador County CHP. A 19-year old Ione woman was driving west on Jackson Gate Rd at 11 pm at 45 to 55 mph – too fast for the foggy conditions. She failed to see the intersection at Hwy 49, and ran through the stop sign attempting to make a right turn onto the highway. 

What’s in the future for Kay’s Resort at Silver Lake? The El Dorado Irrigation District acquired the former Kay's Silver Lake Resort when it bought a PG&E hydroelectric system in 1999. EID closed the resort facilities – including a boat launch – last year. The EID is considering selling the property to pay for rebuilding the boat launch there – the district is required to maintain the boat launch for public use.

The California Highway Patrol reported on a vehicle accident Wednesday on Ridge Rd. A Sutter Creek woman driving a Dodge Neon was on Ridge View Drive, stopped at the intersection of Ridge Road. An Ione man was driving his Ford Explorer east on Ridge Road at a stated speed of 50 miles per hour when the Dodge Neon pulled out directly in front of him. The driver of the Explorer attempted to take evasive action but collided with the Neon and spun off the roadway where it hit a fire hydrant. Fortunately, none of the four occupants of the two cars were injured.

The California Department of Forestry and Cal Fire have lifted the suspension of burning on private lands within the Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit, including Calaveras and Tuolumne Counties. Burning will be allowed, with a valid permit, with open hours on permissive burn days/nights, as established by the Air Pollution Control District in each county. Before doing any burning, you must obtain a valid permit from the fire protection agency having jurisdiction over your area, and check the current burn status by calling your county’s Air Pollution Control District.

An accident east of Hams station early yesterday afternoon impeded traffic on Hwy. 88. At approximately 1pm a call came into the 911 dispatch that a truck and trailer had tipped on Hwy. 88 just east of Hams Station. While no injuries were reported, the truck and trailer had rolled off to the side of the road blocking traffic around a curve in the roadway proving to be a traffic hazard. The CHP immediately responded to the scene and helped keep traffic moving until the accident scene was cleared.

Amador Fire Protection District’s activities continue to be on the rise. In March the AFPD responded to a total of 125 incidents while in April they responded to 145 incidents.  Medical aid calls soared from 68 last month to 91 in April. Also on the rise were vehicle accidents, up from 25 to 27 vehicle accidents in April. Both medical calls and vehicle accidents accounted for 81% of the total incidents.  5 of the incidents were fire related: with 2 structure fires, 1 cooking fire and 2 vehicle fires.  54% of the total calls occurred between the hours of 8:00 am and 5:00 pm.(

Also at Tuesday’s board meeting, Michelle Hampton, the new public information officer for Mule Creek State Prison, introduced herself to the board. Hampton said that she has worked at Mule Creek for 22 years, and was delighted with her new position. With Hampton was Jean Walker, the Community Partnership Manager at Mule Creek. Walker expressed that under Mule Creek’s new warden, Mike Martel, the prison will be doing more community outreach, and will be doing more to keep the public informed. For more information on Mule Creek State Prison, you can visit the Department of Corrections website at www.cdcr.ca.gov.

Monday morning, a car caught fire in Ione off of Martin Lane and Highway 88. Bill Lavallie was again on scene to document the response. The fire started at approximately 11 AM. Ione firefighters responded quickly, fearing that the fire would spread to proximate structures and grassland. Firefighters were able to quickly extinguish the flames. The driver was unhurt but the car was a total loss. It was not clear at the time exactly what caused the fire.