Coalition of Firewise Communities Agenda

Tuesday September 1, 2020 – 5:30 to 7:00 p.m.

Community FireWise Educational Event

Via Zoom

Our Mission: The coalition promotes fire safety through advocacy, education, and community involvement with other stakeholders interested in working toward stronger fire safety practices. 

Welcome, introduce format of evening                                                           Bob Long                   

• Reminders –
• This is the time to take personal responsibility,
• Ready, Set, Go is our motto, but Ready is behind us.  Now is the time to be Set, and Go
•  Sign up for Code Red (see mynevadacounty.com – Wildfire Prep button, then bottom of that page under Helpful Links))
• Bookmark  Ready Nevada County Dashboard https://nevcounty.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=dfae8e3b36e3455bbf9dcc865349e72e
• Remember to call 211 for information during an emergency
• Know your evacuation destination, plan for more than one
• Have an out of the area contact – land lines and cell may be limited locally.
•   Nevada County Relief Fund Seeks Donations for Jones Fire Survivors  

Please consider making a tax-deductible gift today. “Wildfire Relief & Recovery” Campaign will run from August 22^nd through Labor Day weekend. For more information and to make a gift, please visit www.nevcorelief.org/donate. To apply for emergency relief, please visit: https://www.nevcorelief.org/apply/

Monthly updates 

Cal Fire                                                                                Jim Mathias

Consolidated                                                                       Terry McMahan/Patrick Mason

FireSafe council Update                                                   Jamie Jones/Donn Thane

PRESENTATION

Ready Nevada County Dashboard                                  Lt Robert Jakobs/Lindsey Gordon

• How does it work
• How did it perform
• Questions concerns -- Questions may be submitted in advance to jwpeach@gmail.com no later than Sunday, August 30 or in the chat box on Zoom

Next meeting: October 6th, 2020 

  ZOOM unless otherwise notified.

All-County Firewise Community Education Event

This page has the presentations given at the August 4, 2020 online event organized by the Coalition. The goal was to provide fire preparedness information to all residents of Nevada County Firewise Communities as well as the interested public, since neighborhood meetings are not allowed under COVID-19 restrictions.

Please share a link to this page to as many people as possible.

Here is the Q&A  with answers to residents' questions during the meeting about evacuation routes and staging areas, CodeRED and the Emergency Dashboard, and more.

Featured Speakers

• Red Flag Day – Organize your time  -  Matt Wallen - Cal Fire Battalion Chief
  • Matt's Video Recording - YouTube (15 minutes)
  • Matt's Presentation Slides: Evacuation Warning Timeline - Things to do...
  • What to do in an Evacuation Warning: (detailed Version as PDF)
  • Cal Fire Website Pre-Evacuation Steps 
  • Checklist from Marin County (lots of detail)
    
    
• Evacuation Safety  - Jim Mathias
 - Cal Fire Division Chief
  • Jim's Video Recording - YouTube (17 minutes)
  • Jim's Presentation Slides - Safety During an Evacuation - PDF
  • https://www.readyforwildfire.org/
    
    
• When you Leave –Notifications & Warnings   - Paul Cummings -  Office of Emergency Services
  • Paul's Video Recording - YouTube (7 minutes)
  • Hi Lo Siren County Video
    
    
• 
Leaving Early: Making that decision easier and less scary - Susan Rogers - Coalition of Firewise Communities
  • Susan's Video Recording - YouTube (13 minutes)
  • Susan's Presentation Slides: Leave Early.pdf
  • Early Warning Alerts-Weather & How to Stay Informed 19Aug2020.pdf
    
    
• Go Bag - Stay Box - Valarie Bush - Sierra Foothills Village      
  • Valarie's Video Recording - YouTube. (14 minutes)
  • Valarie's presentation Slides SFV - Training presentation-Nevada County.pdf
  • Important Documents
    
    
• Landscaping – What to plant  - Sheri Brown Dion  - Brown Dion Design
  • Sheri's Video Recording - YouTube (12 minutes)
  • Sheri's Presentation Slides: Fire Resistant Landscaping - PDF
  • Reference Websites for Fire Resistant Planting - PDF
    
    
• Nevada County FireSafe Council - Jamie Jones - Executive Director
  • Jamie's Video Recording - YouTube  (9 minutes)
  • Fire Safe Council slides
  • Fire Safe Council website: https://www.areyoufiresafe.com/

• NFPA Videos
  • 2-minute video, “If Your Home Doesn't Ignite it Can't Burn” 

  • 
4-minute video “5 Key Areas Around the Home you Must Examine when Assessing Wildfire Risk.”
  • 4-minute video “Your Home and Wildfire, Choices that can Make a Difference.”


Best of the Best education resources for residents:

Be Ember Prepared: Will Your House Survive When the Embers Arrive? From the University of Nevada, Reno, a 26-minute video with excellent information and powerful visuals driving home the message that no matter what you might do about defensible space and landscape maintenance, it's the little things in and around your house that could determine if your house burns down (or not). This is the BEST EDUCATION TOOL we've seen so far because of the great visuals and the focus on the dangers of the ember storm that is responsible for most burned homes.

The best information about home hardening (what you need to do in and around your buildings) is from the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety. These are comprehensive, detailed and based on scientific research. The first one was a handout from Dr. Kate Wilkin at the December 2019 Coalition meeting. Yes, it's a lot of information but it's all in one place, and it's proven by research performed by people who aren't trying to sell you anything. Download both:

• An 11-page checklist Wildfire Home Assessment & Checklist  IBHS Wildfire Home Assessment Checklist.pdf
• A 40-page Protect Your Property From Wildfire guide, covering roof covering, gutters, vents, windows and doors, decks/patios/porches, siding, fences, outbuildings, fuel tanks and more. IBHS-Home-Hardening.pdf

Early Warning Alerts-Weather & How to Stay Informed 19Aug2020.pdf This one-pager tells you how to check daily wind forecasts, sign up in advance for emergency alerts, and, during an ACTUAL EMERGENCY, how to stay updated and informed (radio, websites, text alerts and other methods for real-time information)

Roadside Clearing Regulations: make your roads safe for firefighters to get IN and for you to get OUT. This unofficial one-page PDF created by the Coalition of Firewise Communities tells you the requirements, in the unincorporated County, City of Grass Valley and Nevada City, for clearing back from the sides of private roads. Diagrams help make it clear. There are three times as many private roads in the County as there are public roads, and the property owners are responsible for meeting these requirements.

Presenters' Powerpoints/PDFs from meetings of the Coalition of Firewise Communities:

See this page for presentations given at the All-Nevada County Education Event held online Aug. 4, 2020.

• Fire Resistant Homes and Defensible Space - December 2019 Meeting - PDF from Dr. Kate Wilkins from UC Extension
• Tips on clothing/supplies during an evacuation - Wildfire - Evacuation - Clothing - SuppliesPDF by former firefighter and Coalition member Chris O'Reilly
• Landscape presentation-March2020.pdf  by professional landscape designer Sheri Brown Dion
• Change Your Foundation Vents to 1/8" Screen (hardware cloth) - one-page summary of the DIY project by Susan Rogers, presented at the November 2019 Coalition meeting.
• Generator Safety Tips & Burn Piles/Permit (with photos) October 2019 Coalition meeting  - Cal Fire Chief Jim Mathias talks about preventing generator-related fires and being safe with your burn piles. This site will tell you when it's a burn day (permitted in unincorporated county only, not in city limits).
• Firesafe Landscaping Tips from Master Gardener Cathé Fish

Official Sites of public and private wildfire safety organizations, with helpful information

• ReadyNevadaCounty.org - official Nevada County website with resources for to sign up for CodeRED, download a copy of the Ready Nevada County handbook, and more.
  
• DisasterSafety.org from the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) - both site links have excellent information with specific suggestions on home hardening and more. See top of this page for their excellent 11-page PDF with clear diagrams on home hardening.
• Cal-Fire's "Ready Set Go" program will help your community prepare for their property for wildfire: http://www.readyforwildfire.org/
• NFPA. The National Fire Protection Association has many resources on wildfire preparedness, home hardening and more.
  • NFPA Videos
    • 2-minute video, “If Your Home Doesn't Ignite it Can't Burn” 

    • 
4-minute video “5 Key Areas Around the Home you Must Examine when Assessing Wildfire Risk.”
    • 4-minute video “Your Home and Wildfire, Choices that can Make a Difference.”

• Fire Safe Council of Nevada County. Get more information about being prepared for wildfire with the 2020-2021 Wildfire Season Guide
• YubaNet.com has articles on "25 weeks to Prepare for Fire Season" here: https://yubanet.com/category/fireseasonprep/

Ready-Set-Go Resources

• Code RED Flyer - Everything you need to know about CodeRED. To sign up for CodeRED, go to this page.
• Red Flag Warning informational handout - Everything you need to know about a Red Flag Warning & a Personal Wildland Fire Action Plan Handout. See above (Early Warning Alerts-Weather & How to Stay Informed) for how to sign up for County OES alerts which can give you advance notice of Red Flag Warnings.
• Wildland Fire Action Guide - Comprehensive Guide to preparing for the Wildland Fire
• An excellent 44-page Home Inventory Guide flipbook from the office of the state Insurance Commissioner. Download it and fill it out, so you're ready if you need to make a claim.

Videos

• Your Home Can Survive a Wildfire - Dr. Jack Cohen, Fire Science Researcher with the USDA Forest Service, explains current research about how homes ignite during wildfires, and the actions that homeowners can take to help their home survive the impacts of flames and embers. Highly recommended. 13 minutes, great visuals.
  
  
• 30-Second Visual of Defensible Space Brush Clearing compared to Not Defensible (Marty Main)

Articles

•  How to stay safe using a generator- from Consumer Reports, September 2019
• Cal Fire officials announce forest management focus   Download the PDF of the proposal
• LA Times article - "Here's how Paradise ignored warnings and became a deathtrap"
• Information to help property owners who are dealing with PG&E’s powerline tree clearing on private parcels Sept 14, 2018

Unincorporated Nevada County:

California’s PRC 4291, which applies in all unincorporated parts of Nevada County, is the code that mandates defensible space around habitable structures up to the property line. (The definitions of terms used in 4291 are at PRC 4211). The County of Nevada also has a hazardous vegetation ordinance, entitled Nuisance Declared; Duty to Abate Hazardous Vegetation and Combustible Material (Click #7.4) which requires defensible space around habitable structures (100 feet) as well as along roadways 10 feet wide and 15 feet high) beyond the shoulder of roadways (both sides) that serve as primary ingress and egress routes.

County Code for Private Driveway Construction Standards

City of Grass Valley Weed Abatement Ordinance:

http://www.cityofgrassvalley.com/document-type/municipal-codes

Follow this path:

1. Click on - Open Municipal Codes Window
2. Click the blue box, Browse Table of Contents
3. Scroll to Chapter 8, Health and Safety, click on the down arrow to open Chapter 8
4. Weed Abatement is Chapter 8.36

City of Nevada City:

Vegetation Management, Debris Removal and Abatement Regulations

Roadside Clearing Regulations: make your roads safe for firefighters to get IN and for you to get OUT. This unofficial one-sheet PDF handout from the Coalition of Firewise Communities tells you the requirements, in the unincorporated County, Grass Valley and Nevada City, for clearing back from the sides of private roads. Diagrams help make it clear. There are three times as many private roads in the County as there are public roads, and the property owners are responsible for meeting these requirements.

Talking to your neighbors about defensible space - helpful PDF from Fire Safe Council with good tips on getting neighbors to buy into the idea of fire safety

It's the Law! (pdf from Cascade Shores Firewise Committee)

Link to all Nevada County Ordinances:  http://qcode.us/codes/nevadacounty/

Link to all City of Grass Valley Ordinances: https://library.municode.com/ca/grass_valley/codes/code_of_ordinances

Link to all Nevada City Ordinances: https://library.municode.com/ca/nevada_city/codes/code_of_ordinances

The Nevada County Coalition of Firewise Communities (the website where you are now) and the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County are two separate organizations. The Coalition's About Us page has information on our all-volunteer organization.

The Fire Safe Council of Nevada County  is a public benefit, non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation with paid staff and a board of directors, formed in 1998 by citizens concerned about the very high potential for catastrophic wildfire in our communities and adjacent forestland.

Track chipper available from Fire Safe CouncilThe Fire Safe Council supports and assists in the formation of individual Firewise Communities (FWCs), and manages the certification (and re-certification) of all FWCs through the National Fire Prevention Association (NFPA). It pays for the meeting space used monthly by the Coalition, and pays for the Coalition website.

Coalition meetings always have one or two representatives of the Fire Safe Council in attendance. The Coalition works together closely with the Council to advance fire safety efforts in Nevada County.

The Council's office has a wealth of literature from various fire agencies that will help homeowners on virtually any wild-fire related topic. They offer a chipping program, a Special Needs Assistance Program for low-income elderly and disabled, and other services.

Visit the Fire Safe Council website. The Council's phone number is (530) 272-1122, and their address is 143 B Spring Hill Drive, Suite 13, Grass Valley, CA 95945. Check their website for office hours. Park in the spaces marked with white letters "OCS" at the edge of the lot facing Spring Hill Drive. Many spaces directly in front of their office are marked/reserved for other businesses .

This page has information and resources for helping the leaders of individual Firewise Communities (FWCs) administer their local FWC.

Reporting

• Firewise Community Reporting for Certification Worksheet from Firewise USA (NFPA)
• Another worksheet for reportingWord doc format, from Sherwood Forest FWC
• Example of Activities that count toward re-certification for reporting.

Is there a "problem" property in your FWC, a neighbor (or absentee owner) who doesn't comply with required county or city abatement ordinances? Try using this: 30-Day Courtesy Notice Program: Resources for Implementing. Download and read both documents linked below. This has been successfully used in numerous Firewise Communities to convince owners of "dirty" properties that they need to come into compliance with the law.

Generic 30 Day Notice  MS Word

30 Day Notice Guidelines  Making the "30 Day Notice" program work - MS Word

Communication with your FWC Residents

Newsletter - this generic newsletter, created by Marty Main, can be used by any Firewise Community to help educate your residents.

Winter 2019

How Do Other FWCs Communicate With Their Residents? -  a PDF summary of 36 Firewise communitiesthat responded to a survey asking about the methods, frequency and effectiveness of communicating firewise messages to their member households, as of November 2019. Gives you a good idea of what others are doing (email, newsletters, etc.) and the challenges they are facing.

Names of the rep who filled out the survey are included, but contact information is not provided for privacy reasons. If you want to contact a rep, please use the "Contact the Coalition" form on this website to request his or her phone and email.

Common Findings From Firewise Hazard Assessments Powerpoint presented at October 2019 Coalition meeting (with photos) converted to PDF - Fire scientist Jo Ann Fites-Kaufman described the many problems she sees when she evaluates in-training Firewise Communities for their NFPA certification. Does your FWC have these problems?

Evacuation Signage PDF - a non-official way your residents can use signs to tell law enforcement that they have either already evacuated OR that they need help. Note: as of July 2020, the County Sheriff's office is giving away similar tags for use in the unincorporated county.

Alert Tag Instructions PDF

Garage Evacuation SignPDF

Shovel Ready Projects - Checklist. Gives you a basic idea of what's needed if your neighborhood has a large project that requires funding to get it done. "Shovel ready" means that if it were to get funded, you could almost immediately put a shovel in the ground and start, because you've already figured out (and obtained) the permits or permissions needed, gotten bids from contractors, etc. Helps document your project so that it can be "bundled" with other projects in grant-funding proposals by the Fire Safe Council.

• Shovel Ready Projects MS Word
• Shovel Ready Projects PDF

Guidelines for Websites for individual FWCs: If your Firewise Community is able to create and maintain your own website:

• The primary focus of your FWCommunity website should be to post your LOCAL neighborhood/community information such as:
  • Your map, showing the boundaries of your Firewise Community
  • Your Community date of certification or when you became an "In Training" community
  • Important contact information for members of your Firewise Community
  • Community Evacuation Map w/ routes and instructions to find 2+ ways out of community
    
    
• Please do not create your own pages with generic educational information, such as on defensible space, roadside clearing specs, emergency planning, etc. It is important to lead homeowners and residents to sites with the most up-to-date information from government and fire agencies, because the information can and does change. Create links to these official websites on your local community website. See the "Official Sites" section here on our Education Resources page.