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PAWS Area Burn Will Cause Visible Smoke Around San Andreas

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San Andreas, CA — Part two of a prescribed burn near downtown San Andreas is slated for Tuesday.

The CAL Fire Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit (TCU) plans to complete a hazardous fuel reduction burn near the intersection of Highway 49 and Pool Station Road in San Andreas. The two burn units included in what is called the PAWS VMP Treatment Area include about 125 acres of annual grasses, oak woodland, and scattered chaparral adjacent to The Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), a sanctuary for abused, injured, and abandoned captive wildlife.

Officials explain that the work will effectively create a defensible area of reduced vegetation between Highway 12 and the community of San Andreas alleviating the threat from damaging wildfire to the wildlife sanctuary as well as adjacent residential subdivisions.

As reported here, the first part of the burn occurred past Thursday during which two acres not planned to burn ignited, and Columbia aircraft were called to the area. Activities scheduled to continue last Friday that were postponed are what the crews are planning to address on Tuesday.

Officials add that reduction of noxious weeds including Yellow Starthistle and various techniques of live-fire training are among the secondary benefits of the burn activities, which are anticipated to begin between 8 and 10 a.m. and then last for six to eight hours.

Smoke or fire during these times may be visible near the Highway 49-Pool Station Road intersection and in and around the community of San Andreas. Control lines and established roadways will be used to prevent the spread of fire to areas outside the burn unit and firefighters will remain on the scene until all hotspots are out.

Cooperating agencies assisting CAL Fire TCU will include the San Andreas Fire Protection District and Calaveras County Air Pollution Control District.

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