Kids in El Dorado County have a lot to teach their elders about fire safety

Students have become teachers in El Dorado Hills when it comes to lessons in fire safety.

Local, county and state fire officials joined Jackson Elementary School students late last month for the dedication of the Fire Safe Demonstration Area at Wild Oaks Park.

Youngsters in teacher Jennifer Lang's fourth- and fifth-grade class spent the past month cleaning up the 10-acre undeveloped park site at El Dorado Hills Boulevard and Francisco Drive to illustrate how homeowners should clear their property to protect it from brush fires.

The class undertook the pro-ject as part of Disney's Environmentality Challenge.

"It challenges fifth-graders to do something that will have a positive impact on the environment," Lang said.

Aware of catastrophic fires in South Lake Tahoe and Southern California during the past year, students decided to focus their efforts on wildland fire prevention.

Lang said they began by cleaning up an area along New York Creek. They also worked to clear brush bordering a neighborhood where a number of the youngsters live.

Finally, they teamed up with the El Dorado Hills Fire Department, El Dorado County Fire Safe Council, Cal Fire and the El Dorado Hills Community Services District to create the demonstration area at Wild Oaks Park.

They cleared limbs and branches from beneath the oak trees. On a Friday last month, piles awaiting the Fire Department's wood chipper dotted the site.

Jim Stewart, a retired firefighter and member of the county Fire Safe Council's board of directors, said mulch created from the chipped branches will be placed on the park's pathways. Limbs that are too big for the chipper will be used to outline the paths.

Crews from the Growlersburg Conservation Camp will trim lower branches from the trees to reduce the chance of fire spreading from grass into treetops.

In addition, a herd of goats will be brought in to help reduce vegetation that could fuel a fire, said Chris Storz, prevention officer with the El Dorado Hills Fire Department. Storz said the goats will spend about two weeks in the park.

He noted that a new state law calls for homes to have 100 feet of clearance, instead of the previously required 30 feet.

As part of the project, the class is distributing fliers to residents in neighborhoods most at risk, urging them to clear brush to make their homes fire-safe.

The Fire Safe Council's Stewart said it has been particularly difficult to impress upon El Dorado Hills residents the importance of defensible space. Most residents have landscaped yards and don't view their neighborhoods as rural areas. Yet many of them border undeveloped, fire-prone acreage.

Stewart said he hopes the students will succeed in conveying that message to their parents and neighbors.

"The kids are so attentive to the fire season and how we're losing our forests," he said.

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