Con Fire To Create Shaded Fuel Break Between Walnut Creek, Lafayette

WALNUT CREEK AND LAFAYETTE, CA — The Contra Costa County Fire Protection District has received a $3 million California Climate Investments Wildfire Prevention Grant from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection —CAL FIRE — to use for the creation of a shaded fuel break across southern Lafayette and Walnut Creek.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held Thursday for the fuel break that will provide significant protection from wildfires for residents in Rossmoor and southern Lafayette, Con Fire Capt. Chris Toler said in a news release.

The Lafayette/Walnut Creek Shaded Fuel Break project area will encompass 268 acres along some 11 miles of open space in the East Bay. The tentative completion date of this project is late 2025.

The grant directly supports Con Fire’s efforts to quickly suppress fires in densely-populated wildland-urban interface and hard-to-access grassland areas before they are able to threaten homes, businesses and other property, Toler said.

A similar project called the North Orinda Shaded Fuel Break was completed in 2019. The 1,429-acre fuel break project reduced dangerous wildfire fuels along 19.3 miles of open space from the eastern portions of Tilden Regional Park to Pleasant Hill Road near Acalanes High School, helping protect residents in the communities of Lafayette, Moraga and Orinda from a wildfire approaching from open space to the north and northeast.

The region receives seasonal Foehn winds in the fall, also known as Diablo winds, that were the dominant influence in several major nearby wildfires, including the 1991 Tunnel Fire in the Berkeley/Oakland Hills and the 1923 Berkeley Hills Fire. The hot, dry offshore winds have been a contributor to many of California’s most destructive fires and can drive mega-fires that exceed initial firefighting capacity.

Reducing dangerous wildfire fuels such as understory vegetation, dead/dying trees and highly combustible brush lowers the intensity and speed of a wind-driven wildfire, allowing more time for firefighters to respond. At the same time, a tree canopy formed by healthy mature trees remains largely intact to reduce the future growth of brush and understory vegetation, including invasive non-native plant species. The desired result of a shaded fuel break is to restore fuel loading to more natural levels that can be maintained by the periodic introduction of prescribed fires.

What To Know

The project officially starts Monday although contracted surveyors and other workers have already been in the area, Toler said.

The fuel break, which will tie into other nearby fuel breaks, should be completed by late 2025 but an exact timeline is not known, he said.

Residents should expect to see smoke at various times throughout the project.

“There will be burn piles to get rid of all the foliage and brush they are pulling out,” Toler told Patch.

Grazing goats will also be used at various times to help create the 11-mile fuel break, he said.

“There will be quite a bit going on in that area.”