Safer West County
Fire Safe Groups
Newsletter
January, 2025
Reflecting on the LA Fires: Important Resources & Strategies For Community Resilience and Care
Most of us here in Sonoma County have watched with horror, empathy, and even, for many, reignited PTSD as the fires in LA blazed this month. Our hearts go out to the tens of thousands of people affected by this disaster.
Many of us have loved ones who have lost their homes or cannot yet go back to figure out what remains. It is a poignant reminder of the times we live in and the work that needs to be done.
Below is an excellent overview from UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain about the LA fires, why they were so destructive, and it offers a continued demonstration of why defensible space and home hardening are so important.
Easy Projects to Protect Your Home
Defensible Space
Remove wood mulches and vegetation within the first 5 feet around your house, including under and around attached decks and accessory structures.
Prune back any trees or shrubs that hang over your eaves, chimneys, and roofline.
Move wood piles at least 30 feet from your home and nearby.
Keep your roof free of debris.
Replace wood fencing within 5 feet of your home (10 feet is better), including attached decks.
Home Hardening
Screen over or replace any attic, basement, and crawl space vents with 1/8” metal mesh screening.
Ensure all weather stripping is secure and there are no gaps where embers can get inside, replace damaged weather stripping.
If you have wood siding, consider retrofitting the bottom 6 inches with noncombustible materials like fiber cement (Hardie Board) or metal flashing.
Vertically screen any portion of decks with less than 4 feet of clearance between the walking surface and the ground with 1/8-inch metal mesh to keep debris and embers from igniting underneath.
Please see Safer West County's website about reducing risks for more ideas.
Assessing Risk: Basic Steps You Can Take
Below is another excellent video about protecting your home and community featuring Jack Cohen, research scientist at the Rocky Mountain Research Station in Missoula, MT.
These videos hit home how much we can do on our own property to mitigate our risks.
If you want help assessing your home's risks or identifying the priority projects, here are a few resources:
Safer West County is doing free defensible space assessments in the communities of Occidental, Camp Meeker, Monte Rio, and Forestviille to help residents apply for our $1000 defensible space rebate. Apply through the rebate application here.
Madronous Wildfire Defense offers remote consultation, onsite assessments, and a final inspection if needed for insurance.
Barely a week after this disaster that will change the course of so many lives, it puts greater emphasis than ever on Safer West County’s mission to create regional resiliency.
We are working to help our communities across West County be prepared to avoid or recover from events like these—and we know LA is not an anomaly. With last year’s flooding in Nepal and Spain, hurricane in Asheville/SE U.S., cyclone in Philippines/typhoon is SE Asia, wildfires in Chile, landslides in Papa New Guinea and Ethiopia, and a heat wave in Saudi Arabia that killed over 1000 people, it's clear that regional resiliency is vital.
We ask you to give even a small donation to help fund our work so that we may make a more significant impact, reducing risks and connecting residents within our communities so that in times of crisis, we are better equipped to help ourselves and each other.
