Fire Preparedness -What We Can Do

By John Reed

Urban Wildfire is a significant danger in Fairfax, We can reduce the danger by acting together as a community.

We must prepare for this by reducing the danger and planning for the reality of fire in Fairfax. Next spring is the ideal time to deal aggressively with this growing threat by assisting homeowners to comply with the existing law, which requires that everyone (keep a defensible space around their home and buildings of at least xx feet or insert the actual requirements here). Dead wood, lower branches (especially Bay) and brush are fuel for a fire waiting to happen. They must be removed, or better yet, turned into mulch, which fertilizes the land.

There are many volunteers who have showed a willingness to help with this, as proven with the pilot program I ran with the Fairfax Volunteers last summer on the Scenic Rd./Tamalpais loop. On our first Saturday, called Chipper Day, we cleared 35 properties. It took the chipper working for the next 4 days to clear all of the wood and brush, significantly lowering fire danger in that area. This was done with a combination of a grant and volunteer efforts. It was estimated that the work done would have cost $80,000, but we kept the cost down to only $1400, only used for the chipper itself.

Fairfax needs to do more to protect the people and property in our hills. There are more grants, already available, to help us do this. I want to spearhead a town-wide effort, with volunteers and grant money, to help people do the right thing here to protect our town.

French and Scotch broom form a big portion of that fuel load, and when the ground is damp in spring, they are easier to pull up with the right tools. We can immediately re-seed with natives so there will be roots to stabilize the soil for the following year's rains.

As chair of the Fairfax Volunteers, I spearheaded a project that shows residents where over 100 public trails are located, as well as their condition (view maps at http://www.fairfaxvolunteers.org/trails.htm). We have been renovating these trails as well. I mention this here, because in addition to allowing people to walk downtown from houses in the hills much more efficiently, it allows them to get out in case of urban wildfire. In the Oakland conflagration, hundreds of lives were saved by trails like these, because one usually can't drive a car out of an urban wildfire. I would like to continue these efforts, so that we all have this safety benefit.