Sacramento City Fire Department spokesman Roberto Padilla took Fox40\u2019s Ben Deci on a tour of the American River Parkway. After an already intense fire season, he wanted to show us what is there, and what isn\u2019t anymore.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s acres upon acres and acres of this specific type of fuel load,\u201d he said, gesturing to a bramble pile several feet high.<\/p>\n
The tour took them through one sooty scorch-mark after another. They are monuments to a wildfire season that has been twice as tough here as it was last summer.<\/p>\n
And now Padilla is putting forward an unheard of idea for the Parkway: the Fire Department starting some fires of its own.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cIt wouldn\u2019t even be acres at a time you\u2019re talking about. Just setting a 5\u2032 x 30\u2032 strip and burning that guy off and then doing another,\u201d Padilla said.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s talking about controlled burns to get rid of some of the critically dry fuel that wildfire loves.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn out-of-control controlled burn is another compelling argument,\u201d said Stephen Green, President of the Save the American River Association. \u201cIt would happen. Absolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n
Green lives along the parkway. He\u2019s convinced that, sooner or later, houses like his would be threatened by a controlled burn policy.<\/p>\n
And he says there are other policies fueling this problem.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis community has not done what it can do for those people camped on the Parkway. And they\u2019re camped the entire length of the parkway,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In December 2011, Police were sent to break down tent cities in Center City Sacramento, and clear-out the the homeless people who lived in them. It is now clear where many went- deeper into the underbrush along the American River.<\/p>\n
More at Fox40.com<\/a> >>><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sacramento City Fire Department spokesman Roberto Padilla took Fox40\u2019s Ben Deci on a tour of the American River Parkway. After an already intense fire season, he wanted to show us what is there, and what isn\u2019t anymore. \u201cThere\u2019s acres upon acres and acres of this specific type of fuel load,\u201d he said, gesturing to a … Continue reading Sacramento City Fire Considering Controlled Fires Along American River<\/span>