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As the foothills brace for the next wildfire, local fire districts are scrambling to ensure residents are well-protected.

In an effort to expand and improve its coverage, Pioneer Fire Protection District is reopening two fire stations, Grizzly Flat Station 35 and Omo Ranch Station 37, which have been closed for four-and-a-half and 12 years, respectively.

The stations are opening in response to unsatisfactory delays in fire and ambulance response times in the area, among other factors, according to PFPD Fire Chief Mark Matthews. Both will be volunteer stations. Chief Matthews described Grizzly Flat and Omo Ranch as communities at particularly high-risk of wildfire.

“Both Grizzly Flat and Omo Ranch fire interface is significant, with high fuel loads, steep geographical dangers and a history of major destruction due to vegetation and interface fires in both communities,” he explained. Interface fires are those that could potentially damage man-made structures.

PFPD encompasses 296 square miles with, at the moment, six full-time firefighters/EMTs who staff six fire stations.

While PFPD is making strides toward reopening previously closed stations, some neighboring county residents still feel they’re lacking fire protection — and left dealing with the consequences.

Lorraine Fleury, a resident of the Sierra Springs subdivision in Pollock Pines, had her homeowners and fire insurance bumped up by $2,871, a 220 percent increase, from 2018 to 2019 after her private insurance company pulled out of her area. Fleury was forced to adopt the California Fair Plan, which serves as a last resort for homeowners in high-risk areas.

“[The insurance hike] is happening across the neighborhood and I’m sure throughout the Gold Country. If it hasn’t happened to you yet, it’s coming,” Fleury said.

Fleury’s nearest fire station, Sierra Springs Station 18, a station in El Dorado County Fire Protection District, is unstaffed — an element Fleury assumes has played a role in her insurance policy predicament. El Dorado County Fire Chief Tim Cordero said that the Sierra Springs Station has never been staffed, aside from a lineup of volunteers until the late-2000s. Fleury’s closest, fully staffed station, Station 17 on Pony Express Trail, is more than seven miles away from her home.

A peek at the public Facebook Sierra Springs Watch group reveals that Fleury is, indeed, not alone. On the page, over a half-dozen presumed residents have testified to multi-thousand dollar rate increases and outright homeowners and fire insurance cancellations over the past several years. Increased expenses have left Fleury wondering whether she can stick around Sierra Springs.

“I really don’t know if I can afford an increase of approximately $239 per month,” Fleury said. “My finances were already tight before this happened … it might mean that I have to leave El Dorado County and seek housing elsewhere, in a more affordable county or state.”

Meanwhile, El Dorado County Fire Protection District is aiming to improve its protection services through the ballot box. Measure B, an annual $96 parcel tax, will be voted on by all registered voters within the district in a vote-by-mail special election that ends Aug. 27. If passed, most of Measure B’s funding would go toward adding a third firefighter to four existing stations, which currently operate with just two firefighters, and improved equipment, but not opening additional stations, according to Chief Cordero.

EDCFPD is El Dorado County’s largest fire protection district with a population of approximately 74,000 residents, covering 281 square miles, with 72 uniformed personnel operating from six staffed and seven volunteer firehouses, according to the district’s website.