An emergency plan is now in place ahead of storms that threaten to damage a dam above Auburn with tons of downed trees from the King Fire.

The King Fire burned 40,000 acres of the Placer County Water Agency watershed and the downed trees and the sediment washed down from the bare hillsides is creating a dangerous situation in and around the Ralston Afterbay, about 30 miles upstream from Auburn.

“And we have a dam downstream that is at risk of an over top as a result of those trees just floating down the river,” PCWA’s Tony Ferenzi, Deputy Director of Technical Services said.

Ferenzi says PCWA has a plan to catch the trees before they get down to the dam.