I am coming at this from 2 perspectives: and as a land owner currently working w a CARX to plan + execute a prescribed burn on my property, and pursuing the certificate myself
Homeowner hat:
In my experience, even with the help of the wonderful Plumas Underburn Coop, the prep (both physical and paperwork/admin) required to pull off a prescribed burn even on just my 2-5 acres is pretty confusing/daunting. I think there's a bit of a clearer process with the introduction of the claims fund (June 2023), but there's still a learning curve to navigate the "world" of rx fire....so it seems like there's 2 big reasons to incorporate a CARX:
1 - Professional to plan + run a burn - I like that there's a title/designation for someone that's been "oked" by some official entity as having the necessary skills and experience to pull everything off from start to finish
and
2 - Ability to use state's
Prescribed Fire Claims Fund
(check out the
dashboard
!) The claims fund covers 2 things: liability of things outside the burn unit up to $2mil, and suppression costs
I think it makes it easier for a group of independent parcel owners, like me and my neighbors, to be able to go in on the project together and have peace of mind that we aren't taking on all the risk ourselves.
I hear a lot about the liability part, but maybe because there's national forest on one side of my property, I am more interested in the other part - suppression cost could end up being way more than $2mil...
Interestingly, the state wants to use the stats to address the increasing wildfire insurance issue.
However, they seem to be kind of hard to find, since there's currently only 24 of em....
CARX-hopeful hat:
CalFire State Certified Prescribed-Fire Burn Boss
Is anyone else working towards the CARX themselves? Where did you take your 3 required classes? Did you get into the March class?? Lol
Just opening things up for any conversation!
