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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08.21.25 Peggy Moak Public Comment_ FW_ August 26 Agenda Item 4.7 -Public Comment..Konkow Partners LLC, Mailing Address: 1692 Mangrove Ave #167, Chico, CA 95926 530-588-4783 Physical Address: 12967 Concow Rd, Oroville, CA 95965 February 11, 2025 Garrett Sjolund, Butte County Fire Chief 176 Nelson Avenue Oroville, CA 95965 CC: Concow Community Citizens Committee, Butte County Board of Supervisors, Golden Feather Volunteer Fire Company, Butte County Chief Administrative Officer RE: Fire Station 38, Concow Basin Dear Mr. Sjolund, My name is Jason Romer, known locally as Hap Hathaway. I am a father, a husband, a son, a musician, a performer, own a popular campground venue for the community to use for festivals, family gatherings, weddings, memorials and just amazing camping experiences in the peaceful forest and I volunteer endless hours helping in my community. I am one of the Konkow Partners, a group of owners of Lake Concow Campground. Our campground is located right across Concow Road from Fire Station 38. This station is critical to not only the physical health and safety of the Concow Basin families, but to their mental and emotional health as well. We have a very busy campground during spring, summer and fall and it draws hundreds of people to the Concow Basin, over and above our regular community members. Fire Station 38 provides a much-needed safety barrier for the community, as well as, so many out of town families. In the 2008 fire that decimated Concow, lives and properties were saved only because this station and volunteers existed. They actually used the campground as a staging location because of the open spaces and easy access to lake water. Our community slowly came back and rebuilt, but we lost most of our volunteer fire fighters due to relocating. The campground survived because of this station/volunteers and was able to offer a safe place for families to be while they figured it out. The 2018 fire was too fast, and the campground was lost as well as most of this community. Cal Fire had to come deep into Concow to do evacuations because we only had 2 volunteers and they were unable to respond because their homes were being gutted already. A Cal Fire firefighter and evacuees he had gathered became trapped and the firefighter was forced to take these people into the water at Hoffman Crossing. Without his training and help, these people would have perished. If we would have had more volunteers, like we have now, they could have been doing evacuations much sooner. The 30 to 45 minutes to just get there to begin evacuations could have made a difference. We need Fire Station 38, and equipment, to avoid this long delay, especially when the winds are pushing the fire. And the little Fire Station 38 survived again as a testament to our community of strength, resiliency and safety. I am so proud of the new volunteers that have worked so hard to fill a much-needed gap in immediate help for the community. Konkow Partners LLC, Mailing Address: 1692 Mangrove Ave #167, Chico, CA 95926 530-588-4783 Physical Address: 12967 Concow Rd, Oroville, CA 95965 As our community continues to come back and rebuild, the population is increasing again, making Fire Station 38 even more critical. The Concow Basin has only one road in, and as in 2018, trees came down and blocked the only road. We need this station as it is deeper into the Concow area as they could be our only help if the road is blocked again. We all know another fire could come and we need to be prepared. The fire trucks can’t get to us the minute this happens, so having a truck, water tanker and trained fire fighters in the basin is actually life saving. Please don’t leave us without this protection. I am so proud of the groups who were able to bring in funding to repair and restore the station. I am so proud of those willing to do the work and communicate with all the officials involved and willing to seek funding for maintenance needs. We would feel safe in our amazing community again knowing that equipment, staff and an opportunity for more fire safety education could all be available at Fire Station 38. We are fully aware of how curvy and slow Concow Road is to drive, especially in a fire truck. To take a volunteer fire fighter and expect them to leave their home that’s already within one mile of Station 38, to drive to the location of the equipment and then return to the fire that is deep in Concow Basin seems unreasonable and dangerous. At minimum, 30 to 45 minutes. That’s all the time a small fire needs to take hold. We have been forced by fires and insurance companies to put a monetary value on our lives and our properties, and we feel that we are worth the minimal costs that would be incurred to keep Fire Station 38 open with a fire truck, water truck and volunteer staff available 24 hours a day. We would also like to offer up our 88 acres to your agencies as a location that could be utilized for hands on training purposes. It would offer lots of areas to train in a real forest environment. We have rebuilt the infrastructure and can offer camping, showers and bathrooms. Our community is full of seniors and disabled folks and many don’t have transportation. To lose this station could literally costs lives and these folks deserve to be protected. We would be happy to host a gathering at the campground so we could all talk and tour the station, the area and meet the people we are asking you to protect. Thank you for your time. Yours in Service, Jason Romer (Hap Hathaway) 530-518-4531 .ATTENTION: This message originated from outside Butte County. Please exercise judgment before opening attachments, clicking on links, or replying.. From:Clerk of the Board To:BOS Cc:Sjolund, Garrett; Harvey-Butterfield, Briana Subject:Public Comment: FW: August 26 Agenda Item 4.7 -Public Comment Date:Friday, August 22, 2025 8:53:05 AM Attachments:Campground LOS Fire Station 38 Letter.docx Please see public comment From: Peggy Moak <pmoak19@gmail.com> Sent: Thursday, August 21, 2025 5:00 PM To: Clerk of the Board <clerkoftheboard@buttecounty.net> Subject: Re: August 26 Agenda Item 4.7 -Public Comment Attached is a letter of support for full utilization of Firestation 38 from the Concow Campground. Thanks, Peggy On Thu, Aug 21, 2025 at 4:57 PM Peggy Moak <pmoak19@gmail.com> wrote: Attached is a letter from the Camelot Owners Association advocating for full utilization of Firestation 38. Thank you! -- Peggy Moak -- Peggy Moak