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Multi‑agency collaboration and decade‑old fuel break helped contain Tiger Creek fire, CAL FIRE says
Summary
CAL FIRE and local partners praise a fuel break—installed after the 2015 Butte fire—and say that multi‑agency response and improved coordination on prevention are needed to reduce future wildfire risk; county and nonprofit partners expect CWPP planning to steer future funding and projects.
CAL FIRE Unit Chief Mike Blankenheim told the Amador County Board of Supervisors the Tiger Creek fire, which began about 12:45 p.m. last Friday, was contained in part by an existing fuel break and a rapid, multi‑agency response.
"We had the staging area set up by about 1:30, 1:45, and had 20 to 30 people representing all the collaboratives," Blankenheim said, listing CAL FIRE, Amador Fire Protection District, BLM, the Forest Service, Caltrans, the sheriff's office, PG&E and private partner SPI. He credited preplanning and long‑term partnerships for limiting the fire's spread.
Blankenheim and others stressed that the same level of coordination used in suppression must be applied to fuel reduction and prevention work. "In the fire prevention world, fuel reduction, that sort of thing, we have none of that authority and none of that funding," he said, explaining CAL FIRE lacks the preventive authority it has in suppression and must rely on partners and grant funding.
John Heisenborough of the Amador Fire Safe Council said he toured the area and confirmed the fuel break performed as intended. He described a BLM‑managed portion of the line funded through a Sierra Nevada Conservancy grant "of a little over a million dollars," and credited Christman Enterprises for most of the work.
Board members and community members urged faster, better‑coordinated action on prevention projects. Blankenheim noted the county will kick off a Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) process that officials hope will make the county more competitive for grant funding and accelerate multi‑jurisdictional projects.
Next steps: CAL FIRE and county staff said they would involve Fire Safe Council partners, the BLM and other stakeholders in the CWPP process; no formal county policy was adopted at the meeting.
