Residents Worried Road Closure Could Create Fire Evacuation Hazard
PLACERVILLE (CBS13) — A road construction project in El Dorado County could create a fire escape danger, according to some residents.
People living along Newtown road near Placerville say closing the road may trap dozens of people if a wildfire were to spark in the wrong place.
"It's scary to think about setting up basically the perfect storm in a fire area that's so heavily overgrown," said Wanda Nagel.
She lives along Newtown Road and has decades of experience fighting fires with CalFire.
She says a road project near her home could be disastrous.
"All we need is an ignition source," said Nagel, "it would be very difficult for people up here to go west into the fire."
A chunk of asphalt sloughed off the road during the historic rains in 2017.
"In El Dorado County alone we had 24 discreet storm damage projects for a total cost of about $23 million," said John Kahling with the El Dorado County Department of Transportation.
He says the road needs to be fixed now.
"If we have an average winter, we're not comfortable that slope is going to stay up," said Kahling. "Then we lose the whole road and now we've really got a problem."
But in order to fix it, the road will be impassable for three months this summer.
"We don't have any very well-defined evacuation routes," said Nagel.
The county says they have options in order to evacuate people in case of an emergency. The plans include ramps at the construction site and the use of an old service road through the woods.
"We have contingencies built upon contingencies in respect to getting people out," said Kahling.
In the meantime, some nervous weeks for Nagel and others living along Newtown road. Nagel is passing out flyers to her neighbors encouraging them to have an evacuation plan in place while the road is closed.
Construction on the road begins Monday and goes through August.