Central Coast PBA
San Benito, Santa Cruz, Monterey Counties
The Central Coast PBA is excited to be an access point and catalyst for “good fire” in the tri-county region. We are a network of Ranchers, Researchers, Tribes, Foresters, Firefighters, Park Rangers, Homeowners, Land Trusts, Wineries, Agencies and the “fire curious.” Join us in getting Good Fire back on the land!
2023 Central Coast CAL-TREX Summary
Due in part to Cal Fire's hard work, the TREX was a huge success, with direct participation of 75 TREX burners, including:
2 Fire Depts (Hollister FD, Santa Clara Co Fire)
2 fire contractors (Defensible Space Services, Wildfire Specialist)
3 CA tribes (Amah Mutsun, Esselen, Auburn Rancheria)
3 State Park Districts (Monterey, Diablo, Santa Cruz)
5 international Spanish speaking burners (Honduras, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Spain)
2 local RCDs (Monterey, Santa Cruz)
2 local foresters (ARC, Hamey Woods)
4 local Land Trusts (Big Sur Land Trust, Peninsula Open Space Trust, San Benito Ag Land Trust, Santa Lucia Conservancy)
2 Regional Park Districts (East Bay Parks, Santa Clara Parks)
1 fire technology start up (BurnBot)
1 Nature Conservancy N. America Fire Program employee
2 reporters (SF Chronicle, CA Academy of Sci)
Roughly 20 observers throughout the week
We burned roughly 20 acres (despite the rain!) and over 15 large machine built piles in prep for a future broadcast burn.
Our network leads and participates in all types of private-land burning (grassland, woodland, brushlands, cultural) and can help landowners with Rx burn planning. Please reach out if you would like a consultation and a site-visit for your land.
Throughout the year, we offer numerous Rx burn trainings from Basic Wildland Firefighter/ “Firelighter” (FFT2) to fire ecology to pile burning.
In addition to Rx burns, the CCPBA promotes wildfire resilience for people who live in the Wildland Urban Interface or rural areas. We teach trainings on and lead work parties for home hardening, defensible space and pile burning.
We are organizing “Wildfire Preparation Brigades” of volunteers that will help lead work parties in neighborhoods to help people make their home’s wildfire durable via home hardening and defensible space. Contact us if you want to participate or could use a hand.
Some useful, local documents on creating wildfire resilience:
Contact us:
Alex Michel, Prescribed Burn Coordinator, alex.ccpba@gmail.com
Jared Childress, CCPBA Program Manager, childress.ember@gmail.com
Devii Rao, UCCE San Benito County, drorao@ucanr.edu
Jamie Tuitele Lewis, Monterey RCD, jtlewis@rcdmonterey.org
