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Lassen County sheriff criticizes use of backburns and outside incident teams after July fires
Summary
Sheriff John McGarva told the board he observed multiple July fires and raised concerns about backburn tactics and incident teams from outside the area, saying the county will pursue after-action reviews and follow-up with CAL FIRE and state offices.
John McGarva, introduced to the board as the county sheriff, provided a detailed update on recent wildfires affecting multiple parts of Lassen County and criticized some fire-management tactics used during the incidents.
"I watched that whole operation so I could be there in case it got away from them and I could start getting residents out of there," McGarva said, describing what he called questionable backburn operations on the Elephant and Biscar fires and saying teams from out of state sometimes lacked local knowledge of wind patterns and terrain.
McGarva described evacuation orders and shelter preparations, reported that some fires had been traced to sparks along train tracks, and noted ongoing investigations into possible criminal starts on several incidents. He said he plans follow-up meetings with CAL FIRE and after-action briefs, and that as of his report there were no active evacuation warnings in effect.
Supervisors acknowledged the update, expressed concern about accountability for tactical decisions made by nonlocal incident-command teams, and offered to support the sheriff in pursuing coordination with state and federal partners.
