WHAT IS ABUNDANTLY CLEAR IS THAT WHEN FUEL LEVELS ARE REDUCED IN ADVANCE, NATURE’S WILDFIRES PASS THROUGH WITHOUT DISASTER.

FIRES WE CAN LIVE WITH.

Wildfire prevention crew hard at work in O’Brien

by Laura Mancuso, IV News, on April 23, 2025

The Northwest Youth Corps is camping at Lone Mountain Resort Park at 169 Lone Mountain Road in O’Brien and helping reduce the fuels at the resort by trimming branches and cutting back dead brush. The Resort manager has expressed that the young adult crew deserves recognition for their hard work in helping the Valley community prepare for wildfires.

The NYC trained in Umatilla River, Washington, and Eugene, OR, and started their work in the Applegate before coming to O’Brien at the invitation of Illinois Valley Fire District Fire Marshal Kamron Ismaili and I.V. Fire Resiliency Oversight Group coordinator Cheryl Nelson. The crews have learned how to operate a woodchipper and reduce fuels for defensible space on various private properties.

The Illinois Valley News traveled to their campsite in O’Brien for a quick interview while they were eating their lunch and some cookies brought by Nelson to thank them for their hard work. Not only is NYC doing fuel reduction at Lone Mountain Resort on Mondays and Fridays, but they are going out to private homes in O’Brien to help create a “15 to 20 foot defensible space around houses” for wildfire prevention. They also make fuel breaks to stop fire in its tracks. Their next stop in the neighborhood will be on Wood Creek Road.

The team of young adults came from around the United States to participate in this program. On April 18, at the campsite, IVN had the chance to meet Azuo Coleman, 21, from Atlanta, Georgia, and New York; Calvin Warner, 23, Connecticut; Sara Camonella, 24, Rhode Island; Salomon, Orum, 23, Boise, Idaho; and Zachary Fredrich, 22, Wisconsin.

The crew explained that the main task is to “remove small brush, dead or dry saplings and limbs, and create a Firewise space by removing higher tree branches with a power pole saw for higher limbs.”

When asked if there is anything you want the community to know, Coleman said, “Fire is not a hazard; it is a tool and part of life that needs to be embraced more.”

The crew will be at Lone Mountain for two more weeks and stay in Southern Oregon until the end of their season, May 16.