Some county roads seriously need wildfire mitigation to keep them open during a fire, the county commissioners were told at their Aug. 16 "On the Road" meeting in Bayfield.
Skip Page, a Firewise Ambassador in the Tween Lakes subdivision off County Road 240, said, "We spent four years working on our right-of-ways. I'm afraid if we have a fire on one of these (county) roads that haven't been mitigated, that it could keep us from getting out." He offered to help with mitigation where needed along county roads.
County Commissioner Brad Blake agreed. "I live on CR 220. Road and Bridge cuts the trees back, but there's getting to be some sizeable scrub oak in the right of way."
Doyle Villers from the Road and Bridge Department said, "We're moving in that direction" but it's very slow, "not as fast as trees grow. ... It's not being ignored, but it won't satisfy the expectations of everyone in this room."
It's not just fire mitigation. Villers said, "We're looking at 501. It's probably the best road in the county to pick choke cherries, every one on a blind corner."
Page cited the need for property owners to do wildfire mitigation on their land. "We lost two houses in Tween Lakes in 2002. Getting people to do (mitigation) without somethng pushing them is really difficult" especially where there are full-time and part-time residents, as well as absentee land owners.
Jim Tencza, a Firewise Ambassador for the Timberdale subdivision, suggested property owners should check the Firewise web site for matching grants to help pay for mitigation.
County Commissioner Julie Westendorff noted the county provides some funding for Firewise. "I think it's one of the best bangs for the buck that you can get," she said.
County Emergency Management director Butch Knowlton commented, "There's been an emphasis to identify subdivisions that are at risk, to encourage them to mitigate along the primary exit so we can get equipment in and people out." He advised that Forest Lakes is still very dangerous despite mitigation, and in the right conditions, Tween Lakes could be at extreme risk.
The fire mitigation discussion was a spin-off from discussion of the county's effort to get voter approval this fall for a 2.4 mill property tax increase for roads and bridges. Tencza said the Road and Bridge Department has been holding itself together with "baling wire and twine."
Audience member Phyllis Ludwig cited the need to make roads safer for bike riders. "I know a woman who rides every day from Vallecito and has been hit three times," she said. "It's a death waiting to happen."
