Silverado Fire - Burned Area Emergency Response
Cleveland National Forest lands and roads in the Silverado Fire burned area vicinity will be subject to administrative closure starting October 22, 2014 until September 30, 2015. The emergency closure is being implemented in order to address concerns related to resource protection, protection of public property, and public health and safety. The burned area is currently being reassessed. If the watershed conditions continue to be a threat to public safety, the closure may be renewed as appropriate.
The following roads will be closed:
• Maple Springs Road
• Silverado Motorway Trail
• A portion of the North Main Divide, from Bedford Road to Eagle Peak Road
This temporary closure will allow the burned area time to begin regrowth of the vegetation to allow stabilization which will decrease the probability of severe flash flooding and mud flows in the burned and adjoining areas. The order will be periodically reassessed, and can be modified if, and when, appropriate.
Closure Documents
Silverado Fire Emergency Closure Order NO. 02-14-02 (PDF, 59 KB)
Silverado Fire Closure Map (PDF, 2 MB)
The Silverado Fire Burned Area Emergency Response documents are located at the bottom of the page.
The Silverado Fire began in the late morning of September 12, 2014 on private property in Silverado Canyon, in northern Orange County. The fire soon burned onto the Cleveland National Forest, through predominately flashy mixed chaparral vegetation, aided by high fire indices, and extreme weather conditions.
The cooperative emergency response, in both initial attack and for the extended incident, followed a strategy of safeguarding lives and property, with a focus on firefighter safety as its number one priority. By the time the fire was declared contained on September 20, it had burned a total of approximately 968 acres, 935 of which were National Forest System lands. The incident resulted in no structures lost, and minimal injuries to responding personnel.
Watershed Emergency
Although the wildfire emergency has concluded, the watershed emergency is still ongoing. The loss of vegetation has exposed soil to erosion; runoff may increase and cause flooding, and sediments may move downstream and damage infrastructure or property, or fill reservoirs, and put natural or cultural resources at risk. As potential hazards to life or safety are identified downstream from National Forest System lands, it is important to extend notification of hazardous or unsafe conditions to all affected parties. As such, the Forest Service is coordinating with the appropriate agencies regarding the potential flooding and sedimentation threats that exist in the watershed.
The soils on National Forest System lands within the Silverado Fire have been identified as having an erosion hazard rating of Very Severe, but the majority of the slopes within the burn area exceed 50%. Slopes over 50% are generally not considered practical or feasible for treatments, as this is a range at which success is considered doubtful.
Aside from stabilization measures on Maple Springs Road and the Silverado Motorway Trail, no other effective treatments have been identified on federal lands; rather, closure measures and signage have been determined to provide the most effective means of recovery.
Burned Area Emergency Response
The Forest Service Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) assessment for the Silverado Fire took place from September 15 through 25, 2014. The BAER program uses appropriated funds to identify those imminent post-wildfire threats to “values at risk” on National Forest System lands and take immediate actions, as appropriate, to manage unacceptable risks to life, property, water quality, and deteriorated ecosystems, after a fire is out. For more information on the BAER program, please visit the following links:
http://www.fs.fed.us/biology/watershed/burnareas/
http://www.nifc.gov/BAER/Page/NIFC_BAER.html
Burned-Area Emergency Reports
Burned-Area Reports provide a summary of the Silverado BAER analysis. The included specialist reports for Biology, Hydrology, and Soils, provide detailed descriptions of identified threats and emergency conditions for the values at risk in the burned area. Due to the topography and non-Federal adjacent lands involved in the burn area and watershed, the BAER analysis appropriately included consideration of those lands in the surveys and reports to determine post-fire risks.
Notable results of the BAER analysis include indications of a high risk of flooding within the Silverado Canyon vicinity. In a 2-year modelled storm (3.73inches within a 24-hour period), peak flows in this burned watershed are estimated to exceed normal 20 to 30 year peak flows. With the increased runoff and sediment delivery, the post-fire flows could lead to plugged culverts, flow over road surfaces, erosion of slopes, deposition along road surfaces and relief ditches, loss of long-term soil productivity, and threats to human safety.
The Forest Service and United States Geological Survey (USGS) completed a supplemental geological analysis also known as a debris flow hazard assessment of the burn area, please see the supplemental document below. An earlier analysis conducted by the USGS displays the estimates of the probability of debrisflow within the drainage basin for a 10-year storm. That preliminary landslide hazard analysis is available as an interactive map.
Federal help for impacted private property owners
Forest Service BAER treatments are not available on non-federal property downstream of National Forest System lands. However, private property owners are being made aware of the Emergency Watershed Protection Program administered by our sister agency, the Natural Resource Conservation Service. Funds from this program may be used to help finance watershed protection work on State, Tribal and private lands, for more information please please go to the Natural Resource Conservation Service website.
California Geological Survey (CGS) Publication
Hazards From Mudslides... Debris Avalanches and Debris Flows in Hillside and Wildfire Areas—CGS Note 33 (html)
Documents
Letter to Silverado Canyon Residents (PDF, 50K)
Silverado Fire - Burned Area Emergency Response Report (PDF, 661 KB)
Silverado Fire - Burned Area Emergency Response Biological Resources Report (PDF, 365 KB)
Silverado Fire - Burned Area Emergency Response Hydrology Assessment (PDF, 3 MB)
Silverado Fire - Burned Area Emergency Response Soil Report (PDF, 237 KB)
Silverado Fire - Burned Area Emergency Response Debris Flow Hazard Assessment (PDF, 4 MB)
Supplemental Documents
Silverado Fire - Burned Area Emergency Response Soil Report Amendment #1 (PDF, 364 KB)
Silverado Fire - Burned Area Emergency Response Hydrology Report Amendment #1 (PDF, 3 MB)