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DOBBINS — On a rugged, forested patch of his family's 428-acre property in Dobbins, John Middlebrook gestured to a thicket of pine trees and manzanita bushes turned into blackened skeletons by last month's Yuba Fire.
“That's a good ‘before' you clean something up,” Middlebrook said. Then he pointed in the opposite direction where trees had some singe marks and a bit of ground was blackened, but far less was fully burned. “And that's a good ‘after.'”
Middlebrook offered a tour of the fire break finished last year on his property that fire experts and local residents agreed made a visual statement on how prevention can be valuable when dealing with wildfires.
Less than a year after it was finished, the break was put to the test against the Yuba Fire, which burned nearly 3,900 acres and two residences over 11 days.
The 1.5-mile fire break, running north and south in a “J” shape along the eastern edge of Middlebrook's property, came through a $52,000 state grant awarded to the Yuba Watershed and FireSafe Council in 2007.
Compared against the $1.5 million per-day cost of fighting a wildfire, not to mention losses in destroyed buildings, Middlebrook and others said the fire break was a sound investment.
“Even when you know the science, you doubt yourself,” said Glenn Nader, a council facilitator and advisor on farming and natural resources to the UC Cooperative Extension office in Yuba City. “You see this, and you know with the right kind of fire, the right kind of wind, this will work.”
Building the 300-foot-wide break took years of commitment and elbow grease.
The FireSafe Council applied in 2003 to build the break through a grant from Proposition 40, a bond voters passed in 2000 for water projects.
Agencies such as Cal Fire and the National Forest Service backed the idea. But Middlebrook said he was nearly willing to walk away when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wanted anyone working on the break to understand the life cycle of the red-legged frog, which could have habitat in the area.
“I know every agency has the best of intentions, and I work for one,” Nader said. “But I do not run from the fact they were a hindrance,” he said of the fish and wildlife service.
The agency ultimately backed down, and Middlebrook began work on the break in 2007.
Much of the break was at the highest point of his property at about 2,600 feet. Middlebrook said he first had to use a masticating machine over several acres to clear ground-level brush that would rapidly spread a wildfire if left standing.
He then built a rough dirt road through the middle of the break and sprayed herbicide on the chopped shrubbery to keep it from coming back.
Contact Appeal-Democrat reporter Ben van der Meer at 749-4709 or bvandermeer@appealdemocrat.com.
“That's a good ‘before' you clean something up,” Middlebrook said. Then he pointed in the opposite direction where trees had some singe marks and a bit of ground was blackened, but far less was fully burned. “And that's a good ‘after.'”
Middlebrook offered a tour of the fire break finished last year on his property that fire experts and local residents agreed made a visual statement on how prevention can be valuable when dealing with wildfires.
Less than a year after it was finished, the break was put to the test against the Yuba Fire, which burned nearly 3,900 acres and two residences over 11 days.
The 1.5-mile fire break, running north and south in a “J” shape along the eastern edge of Middlebrook's property, came through a $52,000 state grant awarded to the Yuba Watershed and FireSafe Council in 2007.
Compared against the $1.5 million per-day cost of fighting a wildfire, not to mention losses in destroyed buildings, Middlebrook and others said the fire break was a sound investment.
“Even when you know the science, you doubt yourself,” said Glenn Nader, a council facilitator and advisor on farming and natural resources to the UC Cooperative Extension office in Yuba City. “You see this, and you know with the right kind of fire, the right kind of wind, this will work.”
Building the 300-foot-wide break took years of commitment and elbow grease.
The FireSafe Council applied in 2003 to build the break through a grant from Proposition 40, a bond voters passed in 2000 for water projects.
Agencies such as Cal Fire and the National Forest Service backed the idea. But Middlebrook said he was nearly willing to walk away when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wanted anyone working on the break to understand the life cycle of the red-legged frog, which could have habitat in the area.
“I know every agency has the best of intentions, and I work for one,” Nader said. “But I do not run from the fact they were a hindrance,” he said of the fish and wildlife service.
The agency ultimately backed down, and Middlebrook began work on the break in 2007.
Much of the break was at the highest point of his property at about 2,600 feet. Middlebrook said he first had to use a masticating machine over several acres to clear ground-level brush that would rapidly spread a wildfire if left standing.
He then built a rough dirt road through the middle of the break and sprayed herbicide on the chopped shrubbery to keep it from coming back.
Contact Appeal-Democrat reporter Ben van der Meer at 749-4709 or bvandermeer@appealdemocrat.com.
