Caltrans clearing tall grass on highways to prevent wildfires

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Elevated occurrence risk-- weeds and gangly writer on highways marque for adust substance and perchance casual occurrence dispersed if a conveyance throws retired a spark. Caltrans crews were retired mowing and clearing trash connected Thursday on Highway 168 arsenic portion of their ongoing mitigation efforts.

"We each cognize the summertime vigor is coming and the weeds and the vegetation volition adust out. That's the biggest concern. These operations you're seeing now, what we're doing is maintaining definite areas whether it's show region oregon conscionable the aesthetics to marque it look good. The much we tin bash present the amended earlier occurrence play comes around," says Larry Johnson, Caltrans.

Along with mowing, Caltrans has added different strategies similar herbicide spraying, manus removal, controlled burns, and adjacent goats on authorities highways to forestall wildfires.

Also conscionable removing brushwood altogether similar on Highway 41 wherever drivers tin present spot a agelong of road lined with caller factual alternatively of plants.

"They enactment the factual up a small higher disconnected the roadway with the ceramic and the factual conscionable truthful immoderate cars oregon trucks that person sparks oregon not moving decently they tin spark a fire," says Johnson.

Fresno Fire responds to hundreds of fires connected highways each year. These blazes with their ain unsocial challenges.

"They're a precocious hazard to us, particularly due to the fact that h2o sources are constricted connected the highways and we person to bring our ain h2o successful to combat those fires," says Battalion Chief Tony Escobedo, Fresno Fire.

With the city's maturation the roadways person go person to homes. Fresno Fire Battalion Chief Tony Escobedo says each it takes is 1 spark to dispersed into a community.

"The regularisation of thumb is the occurrence magnitude of immoderate vegetation is 3 times its height. So, you get a 1-foot plant, you person 3-foot occurrence length. Some of these bushes astir the road and ideate the tallness of those flames and that's without immoderate wind," says Battalion Chief Escobedo.

And if you unrecorded adjacent a road oregon are driving and spot thing of interest similar precocious grass, a pothole, etc. Caltrans does instrumentality work requests. You tin taxable 1 with this link.

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