BAER Assessments -- Fact Sheet
Incident: So Cal BAER Coordination Burned Area Emergency Reh
Released: 11/19/2007
FEMA - Joint Field Office
75 N. Fair Oaks Ave., 3rd Floor
Pasadena, CA 91103
California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (OES)
November 16, 2007
DR-1731-CA FS-05
BAER : 909-777-3006
Fact Sheet
BAER TEAM WRAPPING UP THEIR ASSESSMENTS
PASADENA, Calif. - As interagency Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) Teams complete their assessments of the areas devastated by the October fire siege, they are now compiling that information into reports. In some cases implementation and remedial action have already begun. The BAER reports contain information to assist federal, state, and local officials in creating a comprehensive remediation plan for all of the areas affected by the fires.
The conclusions and recommendations from the reports will identify potential threats to life, property, and infrastructure along with potential threats to water quality and recreational resources, wildlife, botanical species, fisheries, and cultural resources. Included in the reports will be recommendations to prevent further potential destruction due to debris flows or flooding from the rainy season. Recommendations include using fiber rolls, sand bags, and concrete barriers to help in water diversion. Additionally, cleaning debris in burned drainages and man-made culverts will reduce debris flow. In certain areas replanting selected native species will promote soil stabilization.
Even as these reports are being completed, several remediation measures have been completed or are in the process of completion. In addition to replacing 100,000 feet of fencing and replacing asphalt dikes damaged by the fires, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), has hydro-seeded more than 500 acres of land burned adjacent to freeways and state roadways to prevent erosion, replaced 20,000 feet of guardrail to prevent vehicles from going off mountain roads and replaced damaged irrigation pipes and sprinklers to prepare for the hydro-seeding.
Remediation efforts on Tribal lands by the Department of the Interior include the installation of more than ten thousand sandbags, four hundred straw wattles and cleaning out debris choked culverts. Natural drainages have been cleared and more than 300 K-rails have been deployed.
As the BAER Team reports are presented to officials, risks to life, property, and environmental concerns and recommendations to reduce them will be evaluated so immediate remediation can begin. The reports will provide local, state, and federal, emergency managers with the ability to analyze the severity of the risk to areas impacted by the October fires.
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