Federal report looks at need for community fire prevention efforts

A report from the federal Government Accountability Office this morning said progress is being made toward thinning forests in the American west to avert catastrophic wildfire.

But the follow-up report to a 1999 GAO call for a western fire plan and thinning strategy said a national plan should be devised that will reach to individual communities.

Environmentalists want to see the strategy weighted toward thinning in areas around communities but foresters feel cutting in the back country will also stop large fires from raging into towns.

Locally, the Nevada County Fire Safe Council is already coordinating fire breaks and plans to deal with fuels. The Nevada County Fire Plan just completed last year also plays into what the GAO is talking about.

For more on this story, see Wednesday's edition of The Union.