FRIDAY 9-23-22 KAHI MORNING NEWS

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By Jerry Henry on September 23, 2022.

Two South Placer Fire stations are to be closed as the district tries to shuffle its resources amid funding woes.

The district announced Thursday that Station 19, at 7070 Auburn Folsom Road, and Station 15, at 4650 East Roseville Parkway, will be closed by Saturday.

Personnel from Station 19 will be reallocated to other stations, while Station 15 crews are being relocated to the previously closed Station 16 along Olive Ranch Road

A truck that was specialized for search and rescue efforts is also being removed from service for now.

Officials say a myriad of issues a including inflation, wildfire risk, increased state-mandated safety standards, and rising public safety concerns a have caused South Placer Fire District’s operational costs to increase.

A property benefit assessment measure that would have increased funding was unsuccessful.

South Placer Fire District covers Granite Bay, Loomis, and southern parts of Penryn and Newcastle areas. The district says they don’t get county or state funding, just money from property taxes and a static special tax paid by property owners. 

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The Mosquito Wildfire Base camp and incident command post for the Mosquito Fire is moving from @thegrounds in Roseville to Auburn. The transition is expected to be completed Today.

Several events at the fairgrounds have been canceled, including this weekendas fall Auburn Home Show.

All events at the fairgrounds have been canceled at least through the end of September, Gold Country Fairgrounds CEO Don Ales said yesterday, including one Fast Fridayas motorcycle race, Oktoberfest and private events. The annual State of the Community Awards have been moved to Gold Hill Gardens in Newcastle, and Old Town Pizzaas fairgroundas location is temporarily closed.

The main fairgrounds parking lot began filling with rows of fire trucks, tankers, and other firefighting equipment, same as in August 2021 for the River Fire in Colfax, and inner buildings will be used for logistics, finance and additional aoffice planning things,a according to Darren McMillin, a Mosquito Fire public information officer.

The fire, now burning into its third week, has charred over 76,000 acres and destroyed 78 structures. The fire twice rolled up to doorsteps of Foresthill and Todd Valley but was held off each time. Containment has increased significantly this week, from 34 percent Sunday, Sept. 18, to 60 percent early yesterday, Sept. 22.

The U.S. Forest Service requested the service of the California Interagency Incident Management Team for the Mosquito Fire, considered a type-1 a or the most complex a incident.

In moving to Auburn, firefighters have reduced travel time to the Mosquito Fire considerably. The fairgrounds also house and feed firefighters. Medical aid and access to equipment and other supplies are on the grounds.

The fairgrounds continue to house animals who were evacuated with 30 animals remaining from the initial 160 taken in.

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Gov. Gavin Newsom yesterday unraveled a decades-old statewide requirement that every home, office and business come with a specified number of parking spots a a policy that environmentalists and housing advocates say has fueled Californiaas car dependency and hindered its climate progress. Newsom, just back from an international climate conference in New York, announced in a video he signed AB 2097, which frees developers of parking requirements for new housing and businesses located within a half-mile of a public transit stop. The regulation wonat prohibit developers from building parking in their projects but will ban local jurisdictions from imposing strict off-street parking allotments. California is one of the first states in the nation to implement such a comprehensive parking reform measure. It follows several major cities, including San Diego, San Francisco, and Seattle, all at the forefront of the movement. Under the new regulation, cities can still impose set parking requirements if they can demonstrate that the project would adversely impact commercial parking in the area or stand in the way of a city meeting its affordable housing targets.

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After months of living in an inflation-ridden economy, relief for some Californians is just around the corner. Residents who filed their 2020 taxes may receive a one-time payment of up to $1,050 as soon as Oct. 7. Payments will extend through early next year. Direct deposits will be issued first, starting Oct. 7 through Oct. 25, according to the Franchise Tax Board. The second round of direct deposits should hit accounts between Oct. 28 and Nov. 14. The $9.5 billion tax refund program, which lawmakers solidified in June and was later nicknamed aMiddle Class Refund,a is the stateas response to high fuel prices and the rising cost for other goods and services. The rebates are made possible by Californiaas $97.5 billion budget surplus, which swelled with income taxes from high earners during the coronavirus pandemic.

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Thousands of Northern Californians living in the vicinity of the Mosquito Fire wonat have to worry about losing their homeownersa insurance a for a year, anyway. Diving into an issue thatas been plaguing rural California for the past few years, Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara issued a one-year ban Thursday that forbids carriers from dropping homeowners who live in the area where the Mosquito Fire has burned. The order affects 49,639 homeowners, split evenly between Placer and El Dorado counties, plus about 225 homeowners in Nevada County. Lara issued a similar order for about 180,000 homeowners in Riverside County, site of the Fairview Fire.

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