Yosemite West Property & Homeowners, Inc.

Fire Safety in Yosemite West

In June 2008, Yosemite West became the first Mariposa County community to complete a Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP), a four-year long process initiated by NPS and completed through two grants awarded to YWPHI with funding provided by a National Fire Plan grant from the National Park Service through the California Fire Safe Council.

100 Feet of Defensible Space is the Law

Extensive logging during the early decades of the twentieth century and subsequent fire suppression in the Yosemite West area have lead to a more or less even-aged stand of mixed conifers, an accumulation of forest fuels on the ground, and an increase in tree stand density. As a result, the forest has changed from one that was once adapted to wildland fire to one that is more prone to catastrophic wildfires. When Yosemite West was first developed in 1967, only trees in the roads' right-of-way were removed from a then 45-year-old forest. Today's forest is now an 85-year-old mixed conifer forest whose natural condition should contain only about one quarter of the number of trees currently present with white fir and incense cedar constituting a much lower percentage of the total stand with much less undergrowth due to periodic surface fires.

Under the right set of conditions, Yosemite West is susceptible to a large-scale, stand-replacing wildfire that is capable of consuming all in its path. A wildland fire of the magnitude experienced during the 1990 A-Rock and Steamboat fires could place firefighters and the public at risk and destroy public and private property.

Certain private property owners within Yosemite West are actively practicing the mitigation measures recommended by Fire Safe. Other private property owners, however, have taken little or no action to protect their properties from wildland fire. The inconsistent application of Fire Safe mitigation measures places the entire community at an increased risk from wildfires.

A Red Zone Fire Risk Assessment conducted by the Mariposa County Fire Department in 2004 showed that only 24% of structures were in the target zone with 76% of structures in undesirable high-risk zones. The community is working on a grassroots level to inform homeowners about PRC 4291 and facilitate compliance, yet no legal mechanism or ordinance exists to enforce fuels treatment on vacant lots within the community.

There is no defined fire season, but when there is no snow on the ground and it's not wet, consider it to be fire season.

To report a fire

• For emergencies, call 911
• For non-emergencies, call Yosemite National Park fire dispatch (209) 379-1998 in El Portal

Yosemite National Park

• See a map showing Fuel Treatments Near Yosemite West conducted by NPS between 2005 and 2007
• See a map showing Proposed Fire Management Fuel Treatments 2007 in Yosemite National Park, including near Yosemite West



• The Fire News page of the park's website includes a list of all active fires burning in Yosemite and a map of active fires.
• Visit the Prescribed Burning page on the park's website for a list of the dates and places of all prescribed burns in Yosemite or call the Prescribed Burn Information Line (209) 375-9577 to hear recorded information.
• Contact:
  
  • Chief, Fire & Aviation Management, Kelly Martin, (209) 372-0325 [Fire Management Officers, no answering machine), email: kelly_martin@nps.gov
  • Fire Education Office, (209) 372-0480
  • Fire Use Manager, Mike Beasley, (209) 375-9574, email: michael_beasley@nps.gov

Organizations

• Cal Fire (formerly CDF)
• Download Why 100 Feet? flyer
• Download Why 100 Feet? brochure
• Download Homeowners Checklist: How to Make Your Home Fire Safe
• Download Volunteers in Prevention Fact Sheet
• Governor's Office of Emergency Services - Hazard Mitigation
• The Fire Safe Council (FSC)
  The California Fire Safe Council preserves and enhances California's manmade and natural resources by providing leadership and support that mobilizes all Californians to protect their homes, communities and environment from wildfires through public education programs and by funding community fire safety projects.
• Mariposa County Fire Safe Council (MCFSC) works to reduce our vulnerability from the threat of wildfire through a community partnership of residents, property owners, businesses and agencies.
• Firewise offers educational information for people who live or vacation in fire-prone areas.
• National Fire Protection Association sponsors an annual Fire Prevention Week


• California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection
• Yosemite/Sequoia Resource Conservation and Development Council is the fiscal sponsor for and administrator of fire safety grants awarded to YWPHI


• The Center for Fire Research and Outreach, College of Natural Resources, University of California, Berkeley, developed the Fire Information Engine Toolkit, an interactive tool to help homeowners better understand where wildfires occur and how to protect homes and neighborhoods.

Reference Material

• US Fire Administration (USFA) publishes a Rural Fire Prevention Checklist


• Committee For Fire Safe Dwellings


• Read about the Lessons Learned from Wildfires

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