Restoration efforts for areas impacted by last month's Bug and Stallion Fires are set to get underway soon. This includes new repair and rehabilitation projects.
Crews say fires have calmed down throughout the nation, and they're now able to get started on the repair projects here at home.
The first step is fixing any uneven land that was damaged during the response.
Brett Taylor, a Wildland Urban Interface Community Coordinator for Truckee Meadows Fire & Rescue, told us, "Repair projects are just repairing the suppression efforts that, you know, when we cut dozer line, it's repairing those dozer lines. If we had a hand line going through someone's backyard, we're fixing that hand line."
They tell us these projects are managed by the federal government, since most of the fires were on federal land.
The projects can take weeks to be completed due to many agencies being involved.
Taylor also said, "It was 232 miles of dozer line cut around the bug fire. That takes a long time to fix, and that involves folding back over the dozer berms, flattening it out, covering it in brush, possibly reseeding it. If the resource advisors say that that's what it needs, so that takes a long time."
The rehabilitation project focuses more on the entire burned area and looks at things to restore it to what it previously was.
This can include planting trees and seeding plants that are native to that area.
Crews start these projects based on the timeline of which fire started first.
Taylor said, "Repairing the Bug and Stallion fires, that's the one that we’re in that stage of fixing that fire. The Hawk fire is the next slated to incorporate the Forest Service since they were a big part of that fire. Basically, getting all the players at the table that have some stake in repairing those fires is kind of where they're all at right now."
Any homeowners who have dozer line cuts through their property have the option to leave those lines open.
Firefighters say this can help make way for their crews to get through again if needed for future fires.
Taylor finishes by telling us, "Instead of covering it with brush, we can leave those dozer lines intact. They might have regrowth, from weeds or something like that, but the dozer line would still work as a decent fire break with little improvement if another fire, well, when another fire happens in that area."
Any homeowners who are affected by the fires and haven't been contacted by the government are asked to fill out a damage survey and submit photos.
We have a link in our newslinks section to find the survey that needs to be filled out.
