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The Kern River Valley Fire Safe Council has been working to protect residents of the Kern River Valley for over ten years. Formed in 2000 the Council enjoys a high level of partner collaboration with the Kern County Fire Department, Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, Camp Erwin Owen, private business, and valley residents. Our vision is to "Create a wildland fire safe community in the Kern River Valley". We will do this by "Providing awareness through education and information exchange, and facilitate interagency coordination, fire protection and fire safety projects within Kern River Valley".

The Kern River Valley Fire Safe Council was incorporated as 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable organization since 2004. Including projects completed in 2010, the Council has obtained approximately $1.7M in grant funding through the California Fire Safe Council clearinghouse sponsored by the National Fire Plan and supported by the Forest Service and BLM for fuel reduction projects in the Kern River Valley.

The Board of Directors of the Council are elected annually by the Stakeholders (anyone in the valley that wants to participate). The 2011 Board of Directors are: Terry Bolt, Don Davis, Tom Gelder (Secretary), Christine Hancock, Gordon Hancock, Sharon Rooney (Treasurer), Ed Royce and Lloyd Smith (President). Volunteers are always welcome if you would like to help out on one of our committees. The Board of Directors provides for the day-to-day operation of the Council. They meet electronically each month through the use of email. The Stakeholder's meetings are held quarterly in February, May, August, and November at 9:30 AM to 11:30 AM on the third Thursday of the month in Supervisor McQuiston's conference room in the Kern County building in Lake Isabella.

Our major projects this year are completion of Phase III of a Bodfish Canyon Fuelbreak, completion of the Burma Interagency Extension Fuelbreak, initiation of the Lake Isabella Community Defense Zone, initiation of the Mountain Shadows Community Interagency Defense Zone, and continuation of the Alta Sierra and Wofford Heights Fuels Reduction project. Our grant funded fuel reduction projects are executed by the Kern County Fire Department fuel reduction crews. Ed Royce is our grants committee chairman.

Since April 2003 the Council has sponsored 37 Chipper Days in the communities and neighborhoods throughout the Kern River Valley. Chipper Days are an extremely important part of the Council's activities, helping residents prepare defensible space around their homes. Chipper Days in 2011 will be conducted in two formats: neighborhood planned chipper day events, and roving chipper days scheduled in the various communities. Don Davis is our chipper day committee chairman.

Our educational program will be significantly expanded this year in the classrooms of our community schools and throughout the community. We will have in classroom programs and projects to increase the awareness of our children to the issues of wildland fire. We also have our roadside signs providing fire safe messages for residents and visitors coming into the valley. Terry Bolt is our education committee chairman.

We have two special projects that we are undertaking this year. The Living With Fire publication, providing tips on how to create an access zone, develop defensible space, protect the home ignition zone, and assess the interior zone. This publication is being produced in collaboration with the Kern Valley Sun for wide distribution during Wildfire Awareness Week, 2-6 May. Lloyd Smith is leading this special project. We also have a special project this year to create some defensible space demonstrations that are highly visible to the public. These projects will be posted, providing Valley residents realistic models of defensible space. This special project is being coordinated by Christine and Gordon Hancock.

Financial contributions are always welcomed and fully tax-deductible. The funds from our grant projects are earmarked for a specific activity or for the support of grant administration by a fire professional. They do not generally support the Council's educational activities, nor do they cover council operating costs, the largest item being the non-project related part of our liability insurance. If you would like to donate to the Kern River Valley Fire Safe Council contact Tom Gelder, our fund raising committee chairman.

Hazard reduction and weed abatement is every property owner's responsibility.

Enhanced enforcement of the Wildland Fire Urban Interface Code through the Kern County fire Department's hazard reduction program is an essential tool in mitigating structural damage and protecting homes from the threat of a wildfire.

The deadline for property clearance is June 15. If the property has not been cleared by this time an Administrative Citation of $250 will be issued June 16. The property owner then has 30 days in which to complete the project. On July 16, if this work has not been completed another Administrative Citation for $500 will be issued. Continued failure to comply may result in an additional citation for $1000 and a misdemeanor Court citation.

The goal is not to generate income but to encourage property owners to properly clean their properties. Homeowners who cleared their properties allowed firefighters to save homes on the Bull, West, Post and Canyon fires during the 2011 Fire Season.

On a visit to the Kern River Valley on May 2, Cathy Brooke, Senior Grant Manager for the California Fire Safe Council, said she was "delighted" with the collaboration between the Kern River Valley Fire Safe Council, Kern County Fire Department, U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management.

She praised how this collaboration extends from planning and selecting grant projects for fuel breaks and roadside fuel reduction and their implementation.

Brooke spoke with Kern River Valley Fire Safe Council board members and agency representatives, and congratulated the group on the its track record over the last seven years in successfully administrating and carrying out grants from the California Fire Safe Council for fuel reduction work.

Brooke has been the state manager of National Fire Plan federal grants to the Kern River Valley Fire Safe Council totaling over $1.5 million. Brooke has been an avid supporter of the local council from its inception.

Brooke toured the recently completed Burma Road Extension Project. Kern County Fire's Derrick Davis and the BLM's Steve Watkins explained how the project helped stop the Bull Fire from moving south towards the community of Kernville. She also toured the three recent Bodfish fuel reduction projects. Brooke congratulated the group on their results in successfully placing projects where they will have the greatest impact, as demonstrated by the Burma project's role in helping to stop the Bull Fire.

Through the collaborative efforts of the Kern River Valley Fire Safe Council and a crew representing the Bureau of Land Management, Bakersfield Division, a very successful chipper event in the Walker Pass area was completed on Friday, March 18.

 The property owners in Walker Pass initiated clearing along their roads and around their homes in mid-February and accumulated 22,168 cubic feet (compared to 18,248 cubic feet last year) of brush and limbs.  An exceptional composite BLM crew from Bakersfield Metro Station, led by Captain Rob Hedlund, and from South Fork Station, led by Captain Burns Brimhall, reduced the 48 brush piles to chips. 

“It is amazing how fast they can reduce those brush piles that took me hours to produce to chips in minutes” commented property owner Tom Russell.  Ten property owners participated, showing their appreciation by serving up an outstanding lunch for the crewmen and neighbors on a cool but sunny day.  This roadside clearing and creation of defensible space effort will protect 10 households valued at approximately $4.3 million from wildland fire.

Chipper Days Information

The Kern River Valley Fire Safe Council would like to remind residents that it’s the time of year again to start getting their home and property fire-safe before the upcoming summer fire season. Of course, the grass is still green and too early to cut right now, but homeowners can start creating, or improving, that defensible space around their house by clearing brush and trimming up trees to reduce the chance of having it destroyed by a wildfire.

The Fire Safe Council, with cooperation of the Kern County Fire Department, Bureau of Land Management, and the U.S. Forest Service has annually, assisted many homeowners with the task of getting rid of their brush piles by chipping them and then leaving the chips in place to be used however the home owner wishes.

In the past, a whole neighborhood or community would coordinate their clearing activities, schedule a “Chipper Day” with the Fire Safe Council, and then have a full day of chipping brush and branches lined up for the fire crews.  This year however, the KRVFSC is going to have additional Chipper Day opportunities for those that may not get enough home owners together to have a full day of work for the fire crews.

This new opportunity has come about for many reasons. “The Fire Safe Council is trying to make it easier for more people to become proactive in their responsibilities of creating fire protective, defensible spaces for their own properties,” said Kern County Fire Captain Don Davis.

The Fire Safe Council is still encouraging communities that have had full Chipper Days in the past, such as Alta Sierra, Walker Pass, Squirrel Valley, Kernville, Isabella Highlands, etc. to continue with their annual events, but are also scheduling Chipper Days for those areas that have had few, or no, participants in the past. The idea will be to schedule at least one roving chipper day during the third week of the month, starting in April, for the designated communities below in the KRVFSC area boundary.

It will be the responsibility of the home owners in that month’s designated area to have their brush cut and piled by the street by their scheduled date. Participating homeowners will need to notify the chipper committee by e-mail, phone, or on the web as to the location of their piles so they won’t be missed being chipped, said Davis.

For more information, contact Don Davis by e-mail: krvchipperdays@aol.com, phone 760-376-4116, or online krvfiresafecouncil.org

Chipper Days are scheduled for May 22 in Havilah, Walker Basin, and Squirrel Valley; June 4 in Kernville, Frontier Trails, and Alta Sierra. Chipper Days in April are available for Bodfish,  Hungry Gulch, and Dutch Flat, but not yet been scheduled.

Bull Fire -- Kernville, CA July 26, 2010

The smoke column billows from decadent riparian forest along Bull Run Creek. Bull pines torch, throwing hot embers to leap frog. Flames venturi on northwest breezes toward our homes, at the steep end of Burma Road.

Firefighters used community fuel breaks to keep the Bull Fire from sneaking in Kernville's back door that Monday afternoon. In a watershed famous for 150,000-acre wildfires, some would say we were lucky. I would disagree.

Fire clearances around the neighborhoods at the end of Burlando Road had been clearly visible. Firewise property owners had worked hard cutting brush, weed-eating and raking grass, limbing trees. The Fire Safe Council had obtained the grant money, and fire crews had done the work of constructing the fuel breaks.

As the fire is coming over the hill at us Monday afternoon, two dozers, then Rio Bravo Hotshots park big fire trucks among our homes. Silently cheering them on, hope returns as we pack valuables into cars. Dozers tie the fuel breaks to roads. And Rio Bravo works the edge of the flames to stop the Bull at Burma Road. Those firewise fuel breaks made it possible for them to pinch off this corner of the Bull Fire -- 16,000 acres of wildfire that did Not get Burma Road.

Beyond luck! For the fuel breaks to defend our neighborhoods, Thank You to the Kern Valley Fire Safe Council -- a volunteer community organization, Sequoia National Forest, and Kern County Fire. To all the firefighters who battled the Bull -- Thank You.

Special Thanks: To BLM and KRN dozer operators Mitch Wylie and Scotty Davis and their crews. To Jimmy Rocha, Shawn Burke, Jake Carver and their 2010 lineup of Rio Bravo Hotshots for materializing out of the smoke at the right place, just in time.

Thank You -- Linda Adams & John Newman, Burma Road homeowners

Read the full public report on the Bull Fire: Bull Fire Follow-Up Public Report 
(2 MB PDF file)

To report a fire in progress, call 911 immediately.