I live on the west side of the valley north of Kernville.  My neighbor’s house, across the street, and to the left of his house are two vacant lots. My neighbor has made numerous requests to both the Kernville Fire Department and to a local caretaker for the property to clean the lots to reduce the fire hazard, yet neither has acted. Forest Service crews have twice cleared a 20-foot swath across those lots adjacent to my neighbor’s property, but that hardly reduces the overall threat those overgrown properties present.  That afternoon the wind was blowing from the south. Had the wind been blowing from the north, as it usually does, my neighbor would have probably lost his house and so would most of us in the neighborhood.  For all public notices, postings and threatening letters, the Fire Department has never acted.  Two years ago I notified the Kernville Fire Station regarding a hazardous brush condition on the two lots behind my own house.  Those lots are  adjacent to a heavily-wooded draw running up the hill past the backs of a number of properties.  My concern was recorded (I saw him write it in the book), but nothing has ever been done there either.

With jobs at a premium in this valley, it would seem a local crew could be assembled to clear the properties of non-complying owners—especially since it can be done at the owner’s expense. If the Fire Department started doing what they say they will do, perhaps the property owners might actually begin conducting hazard reduction themselves? 

Robert Hyde Kernville