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Effects of the Camp, Woolsey, and Hill Fires on Watersheds

Effects of the Camp, Woolsey, and Hill Fires on Watersheds

Created: Thursday, December 20, 2018 - 15:04
Categories:
Emergency Response & Recovery, Natural Disasters

California Watershed Emergency Response Teams (WERTs), which consists of representatives from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the California Department of Water Resources, and California Water Boards, among other partners, have completed reports on the effects of the Camp Fire and of the Woolsey and Hill Fires on watersheds, which raged in California in November. The Camp Fire burned over 150,000 acres in an area about 80 miles north of Sacramento. The Woolsey and Hill Fires together burned over 100,000 acres in Southern California’s Los Angeles and Ventura Counties. The objectives of WERTs are to help communities prepare after wildfires by rapidly documenting post-fire risks to life and property posed by debris flow, flood, and rock fall hazards. WERTs also perform assesments of impacts to water resources, which they urge local governments and other responisible agencies to utilize to aid in informed decision-making when seeking to minimize impacts to water quality.