Sonora, CA — Over 30 residents from Groveland to Arnold attended a Meet and Greet in Sonora on Thursday hosted by the Tuolumne County Prescribed Burn Association (Tuolumne PBA).
Held on Linoberg Street by the Sonora Tap Room, it began with an overview of using prescribed fire as a management tool by Lara McNicol. McNicol has used fire to treat her property and her family has used it to treat their land for many generations. The Tuolumne PBA is a mutual aid community where neighbors share their knowledge and learn from each other. The association helps with writing burn plans with the landowners they assist, works to obtain the correct permits for the work their landowners to do, conducts test burns, takes weather and fuel data through out the burns, and works closely with CalFire and the Air District. The Calaveras Prescribed Burn Association leader was also in attendance. As detailed here the groups split in August 2025 and share equipment.
The California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection’s new Zone 0 defensible space regulation was a topic of discussion. The new landscaping requirements are detailed in an article by Calavera County Master Gardener Selena Carrick here.
The California Fair Plan, the insurer of last resort, increasing rates starting in mid-October by an average of 29.1% was also discussed. Areas in higher-risk regions like many areas of Tuolumne County will see larger increases than those in lower-risk areas as detailed here. To find the specific fire severity for your property Click here (and scroll down) to find a map where you can put in your address. Details about the state’s Fire Hazard Severity maps are in our news story here.
The Tuolumne PBA encourages the public to participate a Board of Forestry Field Tour Coming to Tuolumne County Wednesday, September 23. The board is California’s statutory authority for state and federal issues related to forestry and fire protection policy. Their projects include the Fire Hazard Severity map and Defensible Space Zone regulations.
The tour starts at Chicken Ranch Casino and Resort, and from there visits several sites in the county. The first site will be a Sierra Village CAL Fire site where beneficial fire effects and cone collection will be talked about. Then visit a Yosemite Rivers Alliance and BurnBot fuel reduction demonstration near Long Barn, the Looney Stewardship Project with Mutzner Trucking, and lastly Tuolumne BioEnergy, the biomass utilization facility in Sonora. Registration for the open to the public tour is available online here.
The tour is hosted by Rose Day, Katie Harrell, Mother Lode Job Training, Columbia College Forestry & Natural Resources, Yosemite Rivers Alliance, BurnBot, CAL FIRE, Stanislaus National Forest, Tuolumne BioEnergy, and regional partners.
Rose Day, a local renter and Tuolumne PBA member, shared that her home recently survived the Court fire due to her ongoing management efforts. With only four minutes of warning about the fire, video from security cameras document the flames shrinking as they crossed on to the grazed and broadcast burned land. Her goats, pigs and other livestock were safe and fire crews could focus on other areas.
Next month Tuolumne PBA will be working with CAL Fire on a 5 acre prescribed burn off Wards Ferry Road for invasive species control. Everyone who helps with a PBA burn is first taught how to put out a fire. There is also a safety lesson about the equipment including proper clothing, kilns that can produce biochar, special backpack pumps that can spray water, a type of hoe called McLeod and drip torches. Understanding fuel types, using masks to limit smoke exposure, using livestock like goats and especially pigs, and managing specific vegetation like star thistle are all topics the group has local experience with and is happy to share.
Homeowners interested in a site visit from the Tuolumne PBA can signed up via the Tuolumne PBA website here to join the growing list. An Rx Fire Field Guide for Landowners was handed out and is available for download here. Their website is TuolumnePBA.org
