Latest news with #offRoadVehicles
CBS News
22-05-2025
- Automotive
- CBS News
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.
CBC
12-05-2025
- Climate
- CBC
Bally Haly blues: Vandalized green frustrates manager, golfers leading up to Canada Games
Someone used off-road vehicle to chew up putting service on 7th hole of St. John's course Caption: The green on the seventh hole at the Bally Haly Golf and Country Club in St. John's was badly damaged by one or more off-road vehicles over the weekend. (Terry Roberts/CBC) A grounds crew is scrambling to repair the green on the seventh hole at Bally Haly, after someone on an off-road vehicle damaged the delicate putting surface over the weekend. It's a costly setback ahead of this summer's Canada Games, with the course scheduled to host the golfing competition. "They came in here and they were just doing doughnuts; tearing up the sod. It's a big mess," said Mike Curran, general manager at the Bally Haly Golf and Country Club in the east end of St. John's. Sometime Saturday evening or early Sunday morning, one or more off-road vehicles drove onto the delicately manicured putting surface and repeatedly did 360s, with spinning tires shredding the closely mowed grass. It could be a month before golfers are back on this green, and the damage will cost thousands to repair, said Curran. "It's going to be a lot of work for us over the next couple of weeks to get this back to where it should be. We also need the co-operation of the weather to help us with that, too," he said. "Growing grass and Newfoundland is not the easiest thing in the world. So between myself and the rest of the staff, we're going to do everything we can to get this back to where it should be in the next couple of weeks." A temporary green has been set up on No. 7, and longtime golfer Joe Lake made an impressive shot off the tee on Monday morning, rolling to within six feet of the hole, even with some snow falling. But like many who play at Bally Haly, he's not impressed with the vandalism. "There's a small element that they get a charge out of doing stuff like this. We're the people that got to suffer," said Lake. It appears the joyriders entered through a path off the No. 8 hole, and did doughnuts on the teeing ground. Police officers visited the club on Monday to investigate the incident. It's not the attention Bally Haly was looking for as employees prepare to host the Canada Games in August. "We want to have this place in pristine shape and this is going to set us back a bit. We'll get there, but it's going to set us back," said Curran. The damage will be be fixed, but will the vandals be back? Curran said that's a real worry, so there's a plan to install barriers at some access points, though it's impossible to barricade the entire course. "Hopefully the community will help us keep these people away," he said.
