MONTEREY COUNTY — Adriaan Urquidez, a young adult from Monterey County, is part of a massive response to protect the burned areas of Los Angeles from taking another hit. This time from winter storms.
“When I first heard about the Palisades fire, I was itching to go,” said Urquidez, who’s a military veteran and part of the California Conservation Corps (CCC) Salinas Center. “When the call is there, I answer it. I’m grateful they were able to get us out here so quickly to assist the community in their recovery.”
Urquidez, a Salinas resident, is one of more than 400 CCC Corpsmembers — which includes adults ages 18-25, and veterans up to age 29 — mobilized by the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES). They’re installing miles of barriers in the Palisades and Eaton fire burn scars to filter out contaminants from rainwater runoff.
“Young adults from the California Conservation Corps and from nonprofit corps programs are delivering on the Governor’s commitment to fast action in keeping residents and the community safe from hazardous chemicals left in the ash and debris of the fires,” said CCC Director JP Patton.
With more than 16,000 structures in need of runoff mitigation, the scale and urgency of this mission is unprecedented, requiring all hands-on deck. Through the Cal OES Watershed and Debris Flow Taskforce, the CCC joined forces with the Department of Water Resources, Caltrans, Department of Conservation and Cal Fire. Under the direction of engineers and environmental scientists, 32 crews are working 12-hour shifts and have placed more than 558,000 compost socks, 34,500 straw wattles and countless gravel bags thus far.
“The crew keeps me busy and I keep them busy,” said Urquidez. “We just got to work together through the hard days and into the easy days.”
Corpsmembers received specialized Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) training in preparation for the task. It’s one of many certifications they’re earning in the CCC to protect California’s communities and environment.
“The Palisades fire kind of hits home because my goal is wildland firefighting,” said Urquidez. “Through the CCC, I got all the certifications for wildland firefighting. Now this experience makes me appreciate what we’re protecting. Hopefully we can prevent this from happening to anybody else’s home.”
The CCC is a State of California department offering paid training in wildland firefighting, forestry, habitat restoration, fisheries, emergency response and more. The goal is to help California prepare for, respond to, and recover from environmental challenges exacerbated by climate change. As this watershed protection mission nears completion, CCC Corpsmembers are grateful for the opportunity to help.
“At the end of the day we say, ‘We did a good thing today,’” said Urquidez. “That’s all that really matters for Salinas Crew Five.”
For more information about the CalOES Watershed Protection and Debris Flow Taskforce, visit news.caloes.ca.gov. To learn more about CCC’s mission and opportunities to join, visit ccc.ca.gov.
