CONTACT:

Rommie Jones Battalion Chief, Prevention Bureau 209/532-7424x120

RELEASE DATE:

June 25, 2010

Burn Permits Suspended

San Andreas – 8AM, Monday, June 28, 2010 the Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit (TCU) of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) will suspend all burning permits within State Responsibility Areas of Tuolumne County, Calaveras County, Eastern Stanislaus County and Eastern San Joaquin County. The official proclamation is attached.

This declaration rescinds all previously approved Dooryard Burn Permits (LE-62a) and large-scale Project Burn Permits (LE-5). Property owners wishing to burn debris on their property are now prohibited from doing so unless they can prove that their project burn must be completed for health or safety reasons. Any planned burning site must be inspected and approved before a permit may be reissued. Permits will again become valid after the burn suspension has been lifted, this could be as late as October or November 2010.

Camp fires will be allowed in designated campgrounds with permission of the jurisdictional authority. Anyone with questions about this declaration may contact their nearest CAL FIRE facility.

CAL FIRE TCU Unit Chief Mike Noonan explained, “Due to high temperatures and low humidity forest fuels are quickly approaching a critical point. Experience has shown that suspending debris burns is an effective way of preventing wildfire escapes, especially as California enters a period of hotter and drier weather. Although all fires cannot be prevented through a burning suspension, their numbers can be significantly reduced.” Chief Noonan would like to thank the residents who have been burning in a responsible manner and reminds all of us that it is each individual’s responsibility to use fire safely, and to prevent fires that destroy lives, homes, vehicles, and the wildland. Be Fire Safe!

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