SPEAKERS AT WILDFIRE PREPAREDNESS EVENT SHARE INFO ON UPCOMING FIRE SEASON

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By Janis Russell

May 5, 2016 (Lakeside) - The California Fire Safe Council held a Wildfire Community Preparedness event, in partnership with the Fire Safe Council of San Diego County and Farmers Insurance, at Barona Creek Golf Club on April 23.   The speakers discussed the severity of the fire situation statewide, emphasized that wildfire risk is now year-round, and gave updates on resources available to help before, during and after a major fire in our region.

Jerry Davies (pictured below right), chair of the California Fire Safe Council, explained that the Council is a “clearing house. We receive dollars from the federal government…these dollars go into a bank” to help the 130 local fire safe councils. They also work with Cal Fire.

Sally Kim Westlake, an associate insurance compliance officer for California Department of Insurance Consumer Education and Outreach for 10 years, has been in the industry overall for 15 years. She explained that this department is the “largest consumer protection industry in the state.” Also, the state “has the largest insurance market in the United States and is the sixth largest insurance market in the world.”

The message for today is to “be prepared,” Westlake advised.  To make the claims process easier if and when disaster strikes, she shared three tips: “1) Conduct a home inventory now before disaster strikes, 2) review your insurance policy now (to see if you have enough if you need to re-build your home), and 3) have all important mortgage and insurance documents in one place.” Their number is 800-927-HELP (4357). Their website is http://www.insurance.ca.gov/.

Next, Tori Floyd (pictured below left), an intern at County Supervisor Dianne Jacob’s office, said she was there to “issue a warning that it will be a tough wildfire season” and urge residents to “have your homes protected.” She added, “Fire agencies are expecting a tough 2016 overall.”

Sheryl Landrum, executive director of the Resource Conservation District (RCD) and of California Fire Safe Council, spoke next. “[RCD] was created in the early 1940s by President Franklin D. Roosevelt after the Dust Bowl…to design, protect, and restore natural resources in communities,” she noted.  The RCD is very resource oriented; they have offered education on gardens in communities and schools among other programs. They even give five high school seniors a $1000 scholarship for college for those majoring in conservation. “Our largest program is fire…our biggest aim is to support local fire safe councils.” 

Chief Don Butz of the Viejas Fire Department, Fire Safe Council of San Diego County, and San Diego Fire Chiefs Association, discussed Community Wildfire Protection Plans. This is a collaboration with communities. It is a public document available on Fire Safe Council of San Diego website. It contains a cover page, a section about the collaboration with stakeholders and other organizations, a section on prioritized fuel reduction treatments, treatment of structural ignitability (by looking at programs to do roof or window replacements), a signature/contact person page, and appendices. The signature and appendices pages are not available to the public.

Renay Peters, Sergeant of community engagement for the San Diego Humane Society Animal Rescue Reserve (ARR), gave a PowerPoint presentation. The ARR started in 1971, after the Laguna Fire of 1970 in Sam Diego claimed the lives of many animals. The sheriff’s office and Humane Society got together to figure out what to do.  ARR works with San Diego Humane Society and Humane Law Enforcement. ARR responds to natural disasters, and injured or strayed animals etc. This group doesn’t just get together when a disaster strikes; they meet every month for trainings etc. They are available 24/7, 365 days a year. They now work with other organizations nationally. ARR exists to safely remove animals from natural disasters as well as life endangering circumstances caused by accidents. They also feed and care for large animals left behind in a sheltered place. She encouraged people who own pets to have a plan and to look into shelters of some sort to put pets in before, during, and after a disaster. “We understand that your pets are your family…we just want to help the community know we are here for you,” Peters concluded.

Clay House, Battalion Chief/Fire Mitigation Specialist and Type III Incident Commander of Bureau Land Management (BLM), gave a PowerPoint presentation. “You’re (homeowners) our first line of defense,” he said. “In this point in our fire safe journey, we must determine and address our education and code failures.”

The traditional message is aimed at preventing unwanted human caused fires. John P Harris from the Los Angeles County Fire Department has been giving a class on “Structural Protection Triage” sponsored by RCD and California Fire Safe Councils. Local fire safe councils can sponsor/host one, which lasts all day. The class addresses safety for the public and firefighters, evacuation considerations, fire behavior and survival techniques. People are in the classroom in the morning, out in the field doing field applications in the afternoon, and then a review of fatal WUI fires and survival techniques. It started at Viejas in 2011 and Alpine fire safe council just hosted one recently. To date, 339 fire safe council members and stakeholders have attended. Go to: http://firesafesdcounty.org and click the Calendar for upcoming classes.

Next, Will Metz of U.S. Forest Services/Cleveland National Forest (CNF) shared some updates of what’s been going on at the state, national, and regional levels. He said CNF generally does about 2500 acres of hazard treatment per year and iso n the process of finishing a three year long project of identifying fuel break systems.

“Fire season is year round,” said Metz. “on average, we have about 280 firefighters during peak season… The good news is that we’ll be fully staffed this year. Cleveland continues to be very active in encouraging partnerships...”

He then shared some bad news. “Due to the extended drought coupled with bark bee mortality, we see tree fatalities in the Sierra Mountain region…that’s a grave concern for us... about 7500 acres in national forests have been identified as fire hazards. Since 2000, fires have grown longer…last year was not a good year for fire services.” There were lots of fatalities in California and around the U.S.

The U.S. Forest Service has been engaging with organizations for the ‘Life First’ initiative to increase the odds of everyone going home at the end of the day. “About 25% of fatalities have occurred in the last 15 years,” Metz noted. “We’re going to be working with cooperators and hopefully have a more desirable outcome.”

A woman wanted to know what happens with the trees being cut down. Metz told her one thing they do is “identify areas to take the material to store it until it can be treated.” In some cases, they just stack it within the forest and burn it there. The woman thought it’d be great if someone took in the wood in to the Forest Services, so then the money from that donation could go back to the national forests. Another woman asked if there have been any problems with infected pieces of wood. Metz replied, “Yes” because bark bees could still be lurking in there.

Chief Tony Mecham, Unit/County Fire Chief of Cal Fire, shared his thoughts. “This is my 32nd year in the fire service…I love this job now more than ever,” he said. “we’ve long had this fire problem in California” which dates back to the 1920s, he added.

“I think we approached this problem historically at the wrong way,” Chief Mecham revealed. He said that firefighters just having booths and a spinning wheel for people to spin for a prize at events just doesn’t cut it. He suggested six ways to improve: 1) cooperation, 2) community partnerships to address the wildland issue, 3) land use planning; “We made a lot of mistakes over the last 40 years over where [and] how people are building homes, 4) defensible space and fire engineering enforcement, 5) education. I think Clay’s program is a valuable program.” He thought it’d be best to start with high schools. “6) response, which is a huge role.”

“What we’re seeing (as a result of the drought in the Sierras) is mind boggling. There are hundreds of thousands of acres of dying trees in the Central Sierra area,” Chief Mecham said. “That has created this incredible fire program for us. I don’t know what kind of fire season we’re at…we’ve been fortunate with Cal Fire” hiring more staff and getting additional helicopters. “We’re flying aircrafts a lot more now, and 6) risk. We have got to address the risk we’re placing firefighters in…we will risk everything where we believe there’s a life risk…when a fire hits a community, we literally have homes threatened.” Mecham also brought up an initiative that the Governor has been working on to modify the environment. “Riverside and LA have the worst air quality in the country,” he added.

Officer Tiffany Mushel rounded out the speakers. She came from the County of San Diego Department of Animal Services. This department responds as a collaborative team. The owner is responsible for getting their pets out in times of disaster. They have an animal/livestock evacuation kit, and she recommended that animals get microchipped, so owners can permanently identify their pert. The department does it for $10. Road closures can happen too due to disasters. “We really want to stress not letting your livestock loose,” Mushel said. An accident can occur if the car doesn’t see the animal cross the road in time. Trailers have been donated at the department’s evacuation sites. “Make sure you have a plan for your pets,” she emphasized, along with properly storing large animals in a trailer of some sort when evacuating.

Learn more about RCD at: http://rcdsandiego.org/home.aspx.

Visit California Fire Safe Council at: http://www.cafiresafecouncil.org/.

For Cleveland National Forest, go to: http://www.fs.usda.gov/cleveland.

Visit Cal Fire at: http://www.fire.ca.gov/.

Go to the Animal Services website at: http://www.sddac.com/.


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