Federal delays stop the forest fire prevention projects by El Dorado County

Placerville, California – federal delays have a wavy effect in the local efforts to reduce, whereby an important agency in El Dorado County has to pause for important projects.

The El Dorado County Fire Safe Council, a non -profit organization that focuses on the reduction of the Waldfeuer risk, is waiting for the release of federal grants that have already been approved, but will remain in review.

The delay has forced the Fire Safe Council to set the essential fire protection initiatives such as educational programs, fuel reduction and chipping projects. These efforts are of crucial importance for the protection of the Foothill and Sierra communities drawn by previous forest fires, including the devastating 2021 Caldor Fire.

The Eldorado County Fire Safe Council is responsible for coordinating larger reduction efforts. Due to the delays in the federal scholarship, however, they could not drive any important projects that would help reduce the Wildfire risk in the entire region.

Ken Pimlott, chairman of the Fire Safe Council and former Cal Fire Chief, explained the effects of the financing stock.

“We literally worked on these projects and had to stop them,” said Pimlott.

He emphasized that these grants are of crucial importance and almost a third of the fire brigade council's operational budget.

Pimlott adds five grants worth almost 1.5 million US dollars. The uncertainty created by the delays has forced some projects to stop because the non -profit organization has to spend its own money and wait for the reimbursement that may not be displayed.

One of the grants on ice comes from the California State Fire Safe Council, which received financial funds from the US forest service. Due to the delays by the federal government, Pimlott said that the State Fire Brigade Council was instructed to enter into the project from the forest service until further instructions.

Pimlott said that two thirds of the Council's financing come from other sources, including donations and contributions from companies such as Smud and PG&E, the uncertainty of undertaking the federal grants in relation to the scholarship holders.

“It really begins to hinder our ability to alleviate the next fire and deal with the next fire. We know that forest fires such as Caldor and others will appear again in El Dorado County,” said Pimlott.

Despite the setbacks, the Fire Safe Council remains hopeful that the grants will be released at some point. The organization continues to drive its efforts, but the longer the waiting is, the more difficult it becomes to effectively tackle the growing forest fire.

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