Every year, Midpen rangers and other staff participate in an all-day training under the instruction of local fire agencies to remain certified as wildland firefighters. This year, we completed our fire training on March 23, earlier than we ever have before, to make sure we’re ready during the current drought and changing climate conditions which has fire season starting sooner.
The training allows our staff to be first responders to wildland fires in and around Midpen preserves until responding firefighters arrive. It also means Midpen staff are prepared to assist fire agencies with firefighting when needed. These skills proved invaluable during the CZU August Lightning Complex Fire in 2020. Midpen staff were essential to holding the fire at Old Haul Road, preventing it from moving into Midpen preserves and the Skyline community.
We work year-round to reduce wildland fire severity and risk in our region by managing vegetation in the public open space preserves we care for with a focus on ecological health and wildland fire resilience. Our Wildland Fire Resiliency Program, finalized in 2021, is proactively expanding our environmentally sensitive vegetation management by approximately 600% over 10 years to promote healthy, resilient, fire-adapted ecosystems to reduce wildland fire risk and facilitate the response of fire agencies.