The community of Cambria got to know the town’s new interim fire chief at a "Meet the Interim Fire Chief" event that was held on Tuesday.
Interim Fire Chief Michael Burkey spoke about how fire crews are actively preparing for the possibility of another wet winter.
Last winter's storms prompted evacuations on the east side of Cambria due to significant flooding. Burkey says first responders are staffing up and bringing in extra engines and extra personnel in case of any future flood events.
“We’ve taken a lot of measures to mitigate the flooding issues and we’re still in the process. It’s an ongoing process to try and clear out the downed brush that’s in the riverbed,” Burkey said.
The winter storms affected many Cambria residents, including Jeff Hellman.
"A house we have up in the hills got whacked by a major tree. It did a hell of a lot of damage,” he said.
During those storms, power outages left True Earth Market co-owner Joseph Vergara feeling nervous.
“The power. Obviously, power outages are common. As a grocery store, we start to get nervous when I think we had one four-hour outage. The coolers will keep things cool for a while but if it goes six to eight hours then it’s really bad news for us. Right when we were starting to get nervous, it came back on,” Vergara said.
In terms of potential fire danger in the future, Burkey says there’s nothing more significant this year than any other year.
“We are in a very established forest here so everything that comes along with that is here in Cambria. This isn’t anything new for us. We’ve been dealing with this for years and years. There’s not a more significant fire danger this year than there would be last year,” Burkey said.
To learn more about emergency alerts as well as evacuation zones for your area, visit San Luis Obispo County’s emergency preparedness website.
