Small California town of Washington overrun with off-road vehicles from out-of-towners
WASHINGTON — The small town of Washington, home to roughly 150 people in Northern California's Nevada County, is facing a big dilemma when it comes to fire safety.
It's being overrun by off-highway vehicles, like ATVs and dirtbikes, mainly from out-of-towners. The biggest issue is the road where they're being launched, which provides access to a large portion of the Tahoe National Forest.
Mike Stewart, the town's fire chief, is leading an effort to educate out-of-towners who park illegally and do not follow forest etiquette.
Fire season is rapidly approaching, and Stewart said Washington has already had a couple of close calls.
Stewart noted that the town sees around 1,500 people on the weekends from Memorial Day to Labor Day. He's calling the off-road vehicles a public safety issue.
"It's getting worse all the time. People don't understand the hazard to this. They think they're out in the middle of nowhere and can do whatever they want without risk, but they're risking their own lives and the public's lives," he said.
Earlier this month, an off-road vehicle caught fire. The chief says they suspect the cause was someone leaving a gas tank unattended and in an irresponsible place.
"They had no cell service. Let's say, if that happened on an August afternoon, that would've turned into a major wildfire. Thousands of acres, millions of dollars," Stewart said.
The trucks and trailers have also completely blocked off the road in the past, making accessing a potential fire nearly impossible.
Stewart said that while fire danger is a huge risk, it also goes hand-in-hand with forest etiquette, like knowing the forecast and taking your trash with you.
"The county Office of Emergency Services had some resiliency grant funds I put in for to start a program called trail stewards," Stewart said.
Groups of volunteers, who will be considered U.S. Forest Service volunteers, will be going out and handing out water bottles and bandanas labeled with the rules of the road to get a conversation going about education.
"But there's also the law enforcement aspect of it," Stewart said. "Law enforcement is out there and law enforcement is handing out citations."
The new trail stewards program will be kicking off this weekend.
The chief says you can recreate in Washington as long as you aren't parked illegally and you're doing it safely and responsibly. He says the best place to park would be at the campground at the bottom of the hill.
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