Displaying items by tag: Butte Fire

Wednesday, 28 October 2015 17:13

Pancake Breakfast to Support Calaveras County Residents

Amador County Fire Departments, with support from the Jackson Lions Club are hosting a Halloween Pancake Breakfast to support Calaveras County residents impacted by the Butte incident.

The Pancake Breakfast will be held Saturday 10/31 9:00am - 12:00pm at the Italian Picnic Grounds in Sutter Creek.

All are welcome.

Kudos to Sutter Creek Fire Department Fire Chief Dominic Moreno for spearheading this effort.

Published in Local

Sunday, 25 October 2015 21:01

Free Erosion Control Available to those Impacted by Butte Fire

FOR THOSE IMPACTED BY THE BUTTE FIRE:

Certified Weed-free Rice straw is now available, free of charge for your immediate use on erosion control in Mokelumne Hill at the Equestrian Center on Lafayette St. and in Mountain Ranch at Central Fire Station #1 on Jesus Maria Rd. Please take what you can use now and leave the rest for our neighbors.

Our Donors thank you for making it happen.

Money you donate is used within 1 week to purchase the certified weed-free rice straw so landowners in the "burn" can put it down to minimize the erosion. Time is of the essence! Saturday (Oct. 17) we just got a taste of what rain can do. CalaverasGROWN is also utilizing volunteer crews to recover water wells.

They are also organizing volunteer work parties. I hope they will post messages to this list for people wanting to volunteer work. Also, how to contact them other than Facebook - many people are not on Facebook but can email or text.

Thank you!

Michael Kriletich

http://calaverasgrown.org/

Published in Local

Sunday, 25 October 2015 19:33

Butte Fire Debris Removal Update

Debris removal work continues in the western and central Jesus Maria areas as well as in the Old Gulch, Wendell, and Moke Hill areas. Twelve debris removal crews are now in the field. Seventeen sites of the 598 properties in the debris removal team have now been cleaned. Three erosion control crews are now engaged in actions to control erosion and runoff concerns, pre-debris removal.

State and Federal EPA representatives have reported the removal of household hazardous waste materials from 508 properties throughout the damaged areas. Air and soil continue to be sampled to ensure contaminants are contained, with no airborne contaminants detected to date. Residents and workers continue to be cautioned as to the traffic risks associated with the number and types of vehicles in these areas. Long range debris removal schedules are not yet available for specific properties, although more accurate estimates should be available in the coming weeks.

Residents are reminded that the deadline for signing up for the State/County debris removal program is November 6, 2015. Detailed information is now available for those interested in self-certification of the debris removal from their property if they are not participants in the State/County program.

Have a good weekend.

Jason Boetzer, REHS
Environmental Management Agency Administrator
Director of Environmental Health/Air Pollution Control Officer
Calaveras County Environmental Health Department
891 Mountain Ranch Rd.
San Andreas, CA 95249

(209) 754-6399

Published in Local

Wednesday, 21 October 2015 00:20

Butte Fire Fundraiser Happening Oct. 22

On Thursday October 22 at the Kennedy Mine in Jackson, there will be a Music and Comedy event called Rock ‘N Relief to raise funds for the Butte Fire Fund, administered by the Amador Community Foundation.

The Jackson Lions Club, Amador County Association of Realtors and the Calaveras Association of Realtors have all endorsed this event.

Besides attendance at the event, we are seeking anyone that would like to volunteer in any way, donate funds or prizes, or simply pass the word.

Visit the Facebook Event Page here

Published in Local

Wednesday, 23 September 2015 17:51

AWA: New Upcountry Gravity Pipelines Aid In Butte Fire Fight

(Sutter Creek) Fire fighters used high-pressure gravity-fed pipelines in the Amador County upcountry to fight the Butte Fire during widespread power outages that disabled Amador Water Agency water facilities throughout the area.

High volume hydrants on the Amador Transmission Line (ATL), the major gravity pipeline that runs from Lake Tabeau to AWA’s water treatment plant on Ridge Road, provided water to fire fighters even as the fire raged all around the pipeline intake above the Mokelumne River canyon.

The ATL carries water that previously ran down the open ditch Amador Canal, which winds through forest and heavy brush. The high-pressure pipeline, completed in 2007, takes a more direct route and hydrants are located on roadways where fire crews can easily access them.

New hydrants on the Gravity Supply Line (GSL) were made available for fire fighters on the Butte Fire. The GSL, still under construction, is being built to flow Mokelumne River water downhill to the water treatment plant that supplies upcountry homes.

Amador Water Agency crews learned from PG&E operators on Saturday of the Butte Fire that the Tiger Creek Regulating Reservoir, site of the intake for the GSL, was full and spilling. This created an opportunity for AWA crews to attempt to use the almost-completed pipeline for fire protection. By manually operating the pipeline intake, they were able to get the Gravity Supply Line filled with a critical water supply by Saturday evening of the fire.

Fire crews were immediately alerted to the locations of the additional hydrants, and filling the pipeline provided an additional high-pressure water supply in areas above the Buckhorn Water Treatment plant.

The Gravity Supply Line is replacing the current upcountry water supply system that uses pumps to pull water up the steep canyon from the Mokelumne River to the Buckhorn Water Treatment Plant. Those pumps lost power at the outset of the fire, along with AWA water and wastewater sites east of the intersection of Ridge and New York Ranch Roads.

Until AWA staff was able to get the GSL up and running, AWA was using generators to run the big pumps on the CAWP raw water system, with staff and equipment vulnerable to the unpredictable fire. It wasn’t until the afternoon of the second day of the fire that AWA crews could get a large enough generator into the canyon to run one of these critical pump stations.

These two key gravity-flow water supply lines, the ATL and the GSL, are not dependent on electricity to operate. In the past, power outages shut down the upcountry water system as often as 25 times a year, disrupting water delivery to customers.

“Avoiding shut-downs caused by power outages during fires and other disasters is a primary reason for constructing the Gravity Supply Line – along with the cost of running the pumped raw water delivery system,” said AWA Operations Manager Damon Wyckoff. “The GSL pipeline has already proved its worth during the Butte Fire by making water available for fire protection.”

In other areas affected by the Butte Fire and power outages, AWA crews worked 24-hour shifts, inside evacuated areas in many cases, to manually control filling of multiple CAWP system water tanks to avoid loss of pressure needed for fire protection.

Crews also manually operated multiple wastewater pumps day and night to keep several wastewater disposal systems at safe levels.

“I don’t think most people are aware of the role that a water utility plays in a big fire or disaster,” said Wyckoff. “Several of AWA field staff members’ households were evacuated, but they all stayed on the job 24/7 to help keep homes supplied with water and AWA facilities operating safely.”

There were no reports of homes without water service due to the Butte Fire. Raw water customers on the Amador Canal, primarily used for agriculture, were without water for about 48 hours until crews were able to install a generator on the pump that feeds raw water from Lake Tabeaud into the Amador Canal on Friday evening of the fire– the first time this has ever been done.

The Water Agency provided free drinking water to anyone, customer or not, whose water supply was impacted during and immediately after the fire. Two AWA water tanker trucks were also used to deliver free water for livestock in areas where wells were shut down.

Contact: Gene Mancebo, General Manager

Amador Water Agency, 209-223-3018

Published in Local