Marin Voice: Firewise safety measures continue to grow across county
The recent fires in Los Angeles burned 40,000 acres, claimed at least 29 lives and destroyed 12,000 homes. Once the flames reached neighborhoods, the wildfire transformed into an urban conflagration, spreading from home to home.
Our Mediterranean landscape, with its long dry summers and Diablo winds in the fall, is vulnerable to the same kinds of conflagrations – recall the Wine Country fires of just a few years ago. These cascading ignitions highlight a crucial reality: The risks on your property can endanger your neighbors and their risks can endanger you. Wildfire preparedness is a collective effort – we must work together to protect our communities. Our lives and homes depend on it.
The concept of working together is the foundation of Firewise USA: neighbors helping neighbors to prepare for wildfire together and improve their safety. With over 75 Firewise sites in Marin (encircling more than 50,000 homes), we have one of the largest and most active Firewise networks in the country.
I’ve been a Firewise leader for six years. I know firsthand the difference this organization can make to a neighborhood. It started with just a few of us signing on to be a Firewise site. We surveyed our neighborhood and hoped the information we shared, as well as the work we did around our homes, would inspire others to join in. It’s been a successful approach.
We’ve cleared many tons of vegetation that would be fuel for fire. We’ve made progress in “hardening” our homes by making them more resistant to ignition by embers and direct flames. As we conduct our annual neighborhood survey, we see greater open spacing, less problematic vegetation and more of the gutter guards and vent screens that protect against the ember storms that ignite the majority of homes.
We conduct an annual evacuation drill and an annual neighborhood “walk around” to assess the state of our site. These actions have the beneficial side effect of contributing to a more cohesive sense of community with our neighbors, enhancing our sense of place and partnership.
Firewise USA provides resources on home hardening, defensible space and evacuation planning. Firewise neighborhoods work together to ensure everyone is prepared, especially those who may need assistance in an emergency.
Each Firewise community follows specific steps to improve wildfire safety. Residents create a neighborhood contact list and hold regular meetings to share information and promote wildfire awareness. They conduct neighborhood walks to identify hazards, reporting serious risks to local fire departments. They participate in annual “chipper days,” encouraging vegetation management around homes and clearing flammable debris.
Another benefit of Firewise participation is that several insurance providers offer discounts to homeowners in Firewise-designated communities. They include the U.S. Automobile Association, AAA, Farmers Insurance and the California FAIR Plan, to name a few.
Fire Safe Marin and the Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority support Firewise neighborhoods by providing resources on personal preparedness, grants for vegetation management and home hardening, emergency alerts, evacuation plans and strategies to make communities more fire-resistant. Fire Safe Marin supports a rich and wide-ranging website at firesafemarin.org with extensive information about how to prepare yourself and your family for wildfire, how to harden your home and how to create a fire-smart yard and garden, taking the small and easy steps first.
Fire Safe Marin also has a YouTube channel with many videos showing important concepts about how to prepare your home and garden and how to evacuate along the narrow roads that are so common in Marin County.
If you’re interested in forming a Firewise neighborhood, want to know if your home is in a Firewise site or have questions about the program, reach out at firewise@firesafemarin.org.
Michael Kamerick, of San Anselmo, is a Firewise leader and a member of the Fire Safe Marin ambassador program.