Fuel break planned for west of Atascadero to reduce wildfire threat

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• Firebreak to control wildfire risk in Cambria passes final roadblock

  Firebreak to control wildfire risk in Cambria passes final roadblock

  A plan for a shaded firebreak around 4 miles of the northern and eastern edges of Cambria has cleared its final hurdle after the window to appeal a county decision upholding approval of the project closed Tuesday without further appeals.

  Work on the project will start as soon as the blooming and nesting seasons wind down, a Cal Fire representative indicated Tuesday.

  The project is intended to reduce the chance a catastrophic wildfire will spread from the forest into Cambria.

• Weed abatement notices to go out

  Weed abatement notices to go out

  Annual clearing of excess vegetation on selected lots intended to reduce risk of wildfire

• Firebreak plan gets approval

  Firebreak plan gets approval

  Cal Fire’s controversial fuel break around Cambria was approved Friday by San Luis Obispo County’s Planning Department. The fire agency has said “a fully intact forest” will remain.

  If nobody appeals the decision during the 14-day appeal process, a permit could be issued in about three weeks, according to Cal Fire Forester Alan Peters. If an appeal is filed by Dec. 30, the issue would go to the Board of Supervisors.

  Cal Fire’s final environmental assessment of the project was released earlier this month. The agency made few changes other than additions to its draft environmental document.

• Getting closer to beginning of work on firebreak

  Getting closer to beginning of work on firebreak

  Off and on in recent months, firefighters have flagged trees, brush and areas to be affected or avoided during upcoming firebreak work in a 4-mile long ribbon of land between urbanized Cambria and the Cambria Pines by the Sea Ranch, which surrounds much of the town’s northern and eastern boundaries.

  A lot of the previously placed tagging may have to be replaced, according to Cal Fire forester Alan Peters, because “flagging only lasts a little while.”

  Each flag color sends a different message, Peters explained. Pink marks various boundaries, orange alerts workers to save a particular plant or plants and blue delineates stream-protection zones to avoid. Cal Fire is currently developing its strategies for notifying adjacent neighbors about the work. “We sent them all certified letters a few months ago,” Peters wrote in several email interviews, “and if need be, we’ll probably go door-to-door as the time nears.”

• Dead vegetation to be burned in state parks along North Coast

  Dead vegetation to be burned in state parks along North Coast

  California State Parks plans to burn piles of slash at Hearst San Simeon, Montaña de Oro and Morro Bay state parks sometime between now and May 1, according to information released to the media Monday.

  The burning of dead, downed and diseased trees, bushes and other plant life is designed to reduce greatly the amount of fuel for fires in the two park areas.

  When the work actually will happen — in the areas of the Washburn Day Use Area in San Simeon, Shark’s Inlet/Butte Drive and Camp KEEP horse corral in Montaña de Oro, and Black Hill in Morro Bay — will be determined primarily by the weather, according to Vince Cicero, a State Park environmental scientist.