Prescribed Burn To Protect Animals And Humans

San Andreas, CA – Smoke will be visible in San Andreas and to motorists on Highway 49 for the next two days as a prescribed burn will be lit to protect not only humans but animals too.

Grasses, oak woodland and scattered chaparral species will be set ablaze on the Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) property. It is a sanctuary for abused, injured, and abandoned captive wildlife.  The CAL Fire Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit will be completing a hazardous fuel reduction burn for the PAWS Vegetation Management Project (VMP) near the intersection of Highway 49 and Pool Station Road in the San Andreas area of Calaveras County on Thursday, June 11th through Friday, June 12th.

Around 125 acres will be ignited beginning anywhere between 8 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. each day and expected to last 6 to 8 hours. The burn is expected to create defensible space by reducing vegetation between Highway 12 and the community of San Andreas. It will alleviate the threat from damaging wildfires to the wildlife sanctuary, as well as the residential subdivisions adjacent to it.

The burn will have a dual role of reducing noxious weeds like Yellow starthistle and provide live fire training utilizing various techniques, according to CAL Fire, that relays crews will use existing control lines and roadways to prevent the spread of fire outside of the burn unit. Additionally, fire crews will remain on the scene until all hotspots are out.

Cooperating agencies assisting CAL FIRE Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit with the burn include San Andreas Fire Protection District, and Calaveras County Air Pollution Control District.