FUEL REDUCTION WORK TO BE EXTENDED ALONG LILAC

More fuel reduction work along Lilac Road will begin the first week of November.

Recently Powerland Equipment completed its contract with the Valley Center Fire Safe Council (VCFSC) to reduce fuel along Lilac Road from Anthony Road to Old Castle Road and on Old Castle to Champagne Boulevard.

Powerland completed its contract ahead of schedule and with money enough left over so that the Greater Valley Center Fire Safe Council decided to extend the contract to do work similar to the Lilac / Old Castle work on Lilac Road north of Old Castle Road to Couser Canyon Road.

According to Jim Courter, president of VCFSC, “work is scheduled to start during the first week of November and should be completed by the end of the month.”
The purpose of the fuel reduction is to provide a safe evacuation route for the Lilac Corridor and the western side of town, which has been identified as having the most hazardous expanse of unburned brush and fuel in the area—and thus the area most threatened during wildfire season, which we are in the midst of.

The total cost is about $44,000, including traffic control costs. Randy Hill of the Valley Center Fire Protection District is surveying the route and tagging the areas to be worked on.

Courter said the the Fire Safe Council is working on some additional funding that might allow them to to do another mile or so.
Funding was provided by the U.S. Forest Service through a $150,000 grant obtained through the California Fire Safe Council Grants Clearinghouse.