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Volume 172 • Issue 17 | $1.00
mtdemocrat.com
Monday, February 13, 2023
Trees forthe forest
Courtesy photo
Cal Fire Amador-El Dorado Unit Capt. Austin Palmiere and his wife Lainey hold their son Colt Davis Palmiere, who was born days after Austin was released from U.C. Davis Medical Center where he was treated for burn injuries.
Photo by Jerry Moorman/Getty Images
Tree mortality consisted primarily of true fir which comprised more than 77% of the total number of dead trees counted last year and was the largest tally ever recorded in the U.S. Forest Service’s Pacific Southwest Region, according to the Forest Service’s report. Mortality was particularly severe and widespread in the central Sierra Nevada Range. Pictured are mostly fir trees in the Crystal Basin Recreation Area of the Eldorado National Forest.
n Aerial survey estimates 36M trees died in 2022 million dead trees were tallied. Countywide in El Dorado County an estimated 78,000 acres show tree mortality with 1.4 million dead trees counted. This year, the central Sierra Nevada Range and areas further north showed the highest mortality rates with true firs being the most impacted, according to the report. The
Mountain Democrat staff
A
report from the U.S. Forest Service reveals about 36.3 million trees across 2.6 million acres of federal, state and private land died in California in 2022. Tree mortality was found on 91,000 acres in the Eldorado National Forest, where 1.3
Forest Service and partners throughout the state are working together to remove dead trees and increase forest health. This marks an increased level of mortality compared to 2021 due to the cumulative impacts of extended drought, overstocked forest conditions, insect outbreaks
Fire captain’s experience gives insight Mountain Democrat staff The Cal Fire Amador-El Dorado Unit captain who was burned when a crew transport truck he was working on caught fire was released from the burn unit at UC Davis Medical Center after more than a month of treatment. Now Capt. Austin Palmiere says the experience changed the way he looks at burn patients he encounters in the line of duty. n See Palmiere, page A5
n See Trees, page A6
Pollock Pines Station 17 expansion under way Mountain Democrat staff
PLACE ADDRESS LABEL HERE
A fire station construction project is under way at Pollock Pines Fire Station 17. The project will expand and improve living, working and apparatus storage spaces of the facility. El Dorado County Fire Protection District officials say they are hopeful the project will be completed well ahead of the coming fire season. Fire district leadership
knew the station needed more than one shower due to an industry push for firefighters to remove contaminants and carcinogens from their bodies as soon as possible after responding to a fire. In early 2020 local fundraising efforts began to add a bathroom and shower for the then four on-duty firefighters. Camino resident and long-distance runner Hervé Leconte’s running challenge and efforts by the Community Economic Development
Improvements at El Dorado County Fire Protection District’s Station 17 in Pollock Pines include the addition of bathrooms and showers to help firefighters decontaminate after fighting fire.
Association of Pollock Pines and other groups and individuals brought in roughly $23,000. When firefighters looked a little further into the project they realized its scope was much larger than they had thought. Major plumbing and electrical challenges were identified that carried over into an adjacent kitchen. Once construction plans were approved the fire district was well into n See Station 17, page A6
Courtesy photo
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