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Help Firefighters Prepare For Wildfire This Weekend
A firefighter operates at the site of a wildfire in Pumarejo de Tera near Zamora, northern Spain, in June.
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Cesar Manso
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AFP via Getty Images
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Topline:
Community Organization Relief Effort (CORE), an international group that fills in the gaps to mitigate climate and humanitarian disasters, is hosting a wildfire safety training brush cleanup event in the Tujunga Angeles National Forest Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Why it matters: The event, a partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, aims to educate residents on wildfire preparedness amidst bigger and more destructive wildfires in the region. Saturday’s exercise will help clear the land of brushes and other fuels to help speed up firefighter response.
“One of the main objectives of this event is to create defensible space and fire breaks. This makes it harder for the fire to spread and gives the firefighters more time to contain it,” said CORE California Area Manager Nina Knierim.
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This is the first time CORE has partnered with the U.S. Forest Service to work on federally protected lands.
“It is a real honor to work alongside these dedicated groups and bring volunteer members of the community to learn more about the critical role that the wildland urban interface and forested lands play in our changing environment,” Knierim said.
Why now: Though wildfire season usually runs from April to October, climate change has complicated its schedule. From the wet winter that prolonged combustible grasses and underbrush, to hotter and longer heat waves, this effort is intended to prepare for increasingly unpredictable fire seasons.
The backstory: CORE, originally founded by actor Sean Penn, is a disaster response team that works in underserved communities. Its inception came in 2016, after Hurricane Matthew pummeled Haiti, before the organization went on to organize COVID-19 vaccination sites at the Dodger Stadium and in Ukraine during Russia’s invasion.
What's next: You can sign up here and go to the Big Tujunga Fire Station to help out.
Corrected October 11, 2023 at 12:21 PM PDT
A previous version misidentified the organizationbehind the event. LAist regrets the error.
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