Coalition of Firewise Communities 

Monthly Meeting

Tuesday, December 6, 5:30pm

Sign up here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAld-qhpz8uGdR1coAYsmDyBdTd0QRK-0ZV

December Program:

• Celebrating 5 Years! A History of the Coalition – Susan Rogers with Kent Rees
• Funding Mechanisms: Where Do We Go From Here?
  • Ariel Lovett, Nevada Co Executive Office
  • Evan Smith, Natural Resource Conservation Service
  • Sandy Jacobson, Nevada Co Resource Conservation District
  • Jim Mathias, Cal Fire
  • Alex Keeble-Toll, Nevada Co Office of Emergency Services

Click below to register now for the meeting. Everyone will receive the Zoom link, but we’re asking FWC representatives to make every effort to attend in-person. Long-time Coalition members will remember the energy and motivation you get from being in the same room with others working to keep our community safer. (And hey, you can have some cake!) Register here:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAld-qhpz8uGdR1coAYsmDyBdTd0QRK-0ZV

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Is there a wildfire? 6 Oct2022.pdf tells how to get early notice of a nearby wildfire and how to quickly check wind direction to see if it's being pushed toward you. (_{1-page PDF, does not open in a new tab -- check your Downloads folder.)} This 7-minute video is a live demonstration (excerpted from our July meeting) of the points in this handout.

Best of the Best education resources:

(scroll down for even more)

Your Home Can Survive a Wildfire - Watch giant nozzles blow burning embers at mock houses in a monster testing facility. In this 13-minute video with great visuals, Dr. Jack Cohen, Fire Science Researcher with the USDA Forest Service, explains current research about how homes ignite during wildfires. After watching this, you will feel more confident that the action steps you take can help your home survive the impacts of flames and embers.

Wildfire Defensible Space: Zone Zero - 7-minute video about the most important defensible space zone, 0-to 5 feet around your house. See description below in the OUTSIDE category.

Three great sources for information about home hardening (what you need to do in and around your buildings):

1. Wildfire Hazards in Residential Fences and Mulch Beds is a new (Aug 2022) report that will help you evaluate your risk from your fences. See the photo showing flames jumping from a wood fence to the house 6 feet away.
2. Wildfire home retrofit guide.pdf from University of Nevada, Reno Extension and University of California Cooperative Extension, with funding from Cal Fire. Clear information and drawings for how to retrofit existing components of a home to withstand wildfire.
3. See below, from the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS). Like the retrofit guide above, these are comprehensive, detailed and based on scientific research  performed by people who aren't trying to sell you anything. Download the first checklist and then either the second "everything" guide or the individual fact sheets (in the third bullet):

• An 11-page Wildfire Home Assessment & Checklist
• 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.
• Don't want 40 pages? The IBHS has split the guide into individual Research Fact Sheets here on the NFPA website-- get only the topics you want: Attic & Crawl Space Vents; Fire-Retardant Coatings; Decks; Exterior Sprinkler Systems; Fencing; Fire Spread on Ember-Ignited Decks; Roofing Materials; Skylights; Under-Eave Construction, and Immediate (noncombustible) Zone around your house.

How to Stay Informed During Wildfire Season Oct2022.pdf  One page for finding weather advisories, how to sign up for emergency alerts, and, during an ACTUAL EMERGENCY, how to stay updated and informed. Print and post it on your refrigerator!

Roadside Clearing Regulations: make your roads safe for firefighters to get IN and for you to get OUT. This unofficial one-page PDF with diagrams, 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. 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. See "Rules & Enforcement" for how to report violations of these roadside clearing regulations.

What do you do when your 100 feet of defensible space goes onto a neighbor's property? Or onto government land? What if your neighbor refuses to clear her property? The five-page document linked here, "What If Your 100 Feet of Defensible Space Goes Beyond Your Property Line?," tells you how to proceed under different scenarios. Read additional detail on our Rules & Enforcement page.

In addition to the above, check out these other great resources (many from past Coalition meetings).

OUTSIDE: defensible space, landscaping, generators

• Defensible Space: good diagrams & information from the Cal Fire website, ReadyforWildfire.org, explaining state law requirements for defensible space. The website also has information on fire-resistant landscaping.
• Wildfire Defensible Space: Zone Zero - outstanding 7-minute video reflecting the newest research about "Ground Zero," the 0-to-5 foot Zone Zero around your home that has been proven to be key to reducing your home's risk of burning down. Great visuals. Prefer written format? Here's a one-page PDF from the IBHS.
• How to Protect Your Deck From Wildfire - 16-minute video
• Firewise Garden Design 21 slide PDF (incl. photos) from the March 2020 Coalition meeting, by landscape designer Sheri Brown Dion. In this 12-minute video, Sheri discusses the last 5 slides which are about plant selection. Here's a PDF with a few Reference Websites for Fire Resistant Planting. 
• Landscaping Tips to Help Defend Your Home from Wildfire, a 53-slide Powerpoint PDF with many visuals, by Master Gardener Cathé Fish. 
• Prescribed Burn Information - see this page, last bullet point.
• 30-Second Visual of Defensible Space Brush Clearing compared to Not Cleared/Not Defensible (Marty Main, 2018). Another 30-second of Looks Good vs Dangerous Mess (Jeff Peach, 2021).
• Generators: What Kind to Buy and How to Run it Safely -- by Greg Cameron, October 2020 Coalition speaker: Comprehensive presentation on types of generators, pros and cons of each type, how-to tips, and how to stay safe while using a generator.
• Generator Safety Tips & Burn Piles/Permit (with photos) October 2019  - Cal Fire Chief Jim Mathias talks about preventing generator-related fires and being safe with burn piles. This site  tells you when it's a burn day (in unincorporated county only, prohibited in GV/NC city limits).
• How to stay safe using a generator- easy 2-pager from Consumer Reports, Sept 2019
• KCRA 2-minute news clip on well-managed forest and a homeowners' defensible space - Summer 2021, Caldor Fire.

YOUR HOUSE: protecting your dwelling

• Be Ember Prepared: Will Your House Survive When the Embers Arrive? From the University of Nevada, Reno, a 26-minute video demonstrating that no matter what you do about defensible space, it's little things in and around your house that can determine if your house burns down (or not). This and the one with Dr. Jack Cohen (top of this page) are the BEST VIDEO RESOURCES we've seen because they focus on the ember storm that is responsible for most burned homes.
  
• Home Hardening Priorities & Resources - 12 slides linking you to the home-hardening information  (click on the gold words) at Cal Fire, NFPA, UCCE and IBHS, by Kristen Cook, Coalition Steering Committee, from the April 2021 meeting.
• Cal Fire's "Hardening Your Home" page, with downloadable "Low-cost Retrofit List" and other materials.
• You Can Reduce the Chance of Your Home Burning - December 2019 Meeting - 27-slide PDF from Dr. Kate Wilkins from UC Extension
• National Fire Prevention Assoc. 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.”

• How I Changed My House Vents to 1/8" Screen - 29-slide Powerpoint PDF with photos showing every step of the DIY project by Susan Rogers (Nov 2019 Coalition meeting) or a one-page summary (with no photos).
• A 44-page Home Inventory Guide flipbook from the state Insurance Commissioner's office. Download it, print it and fill it out, so you're ready if you need to make a claim. (OR use your phone to video-record the contents of every room in your house, including the contents of all closets, cabinets and drawers. Narrate the video with the same information in the flipbook, e.g. when purchased, amount paid, etc.)

YOU & YOURS: how to prepare, evacuating

• CodeRED EXPLAINER: a 2-sided PDF showing the differences between the County CodeRED Emergency Alert System, the CodeRED Mobile App, and other alerts you may receive. Clearly shows why you need to be signed up for our Nevada County CodeRED System. The County also has a very simple, clear graphic chart on this page (scroll down past the video Overviews).
• Know Your Evacuation Zone - see the County of Nevada section below, third bullet point. It's vital to know your Evacuation Zone number.
• Sign up for text alerts from Cal Fire. In the box that says "Sign Up For Text Messages," enter your cellphone number and zip code, then click "Sign Up."
• The Hi-Lo Siren means your life and property are under imminent threat. Learn what the Hi-Lo Siren sounds like (2:30min County video) because it means "YOU MUST LEAVE NOW." 

Lists and Checklists:

• How to Stay Informed During Wildfire Season Oct2022.pdf -- one page listing all the ways to stay informed and get status updates during an actual emergency.
• Important Documents You Will Need - a checklist of what you need to have ready to take with you when evacuating, including what wildfire survivors say they wished they'd taken. In PDF format or Word docx format you can customize to your situation.
• Walking-Out-the-Door checklists to post in/near your garage: Evacuation Plan Before Wildfire Gets to Your House.pdf, ready to use, by the Coalition's Evacuation Committee. Also check out the Wildfire Evacuation Checklist 2-sided PDF from Marin County, which is very detailed with great information. Many people use these as guides for creating their own customized checklist.
• Camp Fire survivor Cat Cardinalli provided a compelling presentation at the June 2022 Coalition meeting. Here is PDF of her First-Hand Lessons from a Paradise Fire Survivor. For a Word docx version that you can edit and customize for your own planning purposes, click this and the doc will automatically download to your computer's Downloads folder (a new page will NOT open here on the website).
  
  

Take the Advice of Firefighters:

• What you can do 6-12 Hours Before Evacuation from Chief Matt Wallen, Cal Fire, at the June 2021 Coalition meeting, in multiple formats: 
  • 5-Minute Condensed version video
  • the full-length video (15 minutes) of Chief Wallen discussing his five slides in more detail.
  • downloadable 2-page PDF with the same information in list format
• What to Wear (and supplies to take) When You Evacuate by former firefighter Christopher Reilly, in multiple formats: 
  • 5-minute Condensed version video;  
  • the full-length video (13 minutes) of Chris discussing his slides in more detail.
    
• Safety During an Evacuation & What If You Are Trapped from Chief Jim Mathias, Cal Fire in multiple formats: 
  • 5-minute Condensed version video; 
  • the full-length video (17 minutes) of Chief Mathias discussing his seven slides in more detail.
    
    
• 
Leaving Early: How to Make That Decision, with Susan Rogers of the Coalition of Firewise Communities, is a 22-slide PDF reviewing how and why you should leave ahead of official notices, and how to make that decision more easily and with less hesitation. Here's the 13-minute video from 2020 with Susan discussing the slides with additional commentary.
• Frequently asked questions about evacuation (and the answers) from the chat box of the 2020 All-County Educational Event.
• During a Wildfire, Your Phone Might Stop Working. How Can You Communicate? KQED article with an excellent graphic at the end to download and keep on your cellphone.

What is the County of Nevada doing about wildfire preparedness?

Answer: A LOT! Visit the County's emergency preparedness website, ReadyNevadaCounty.org, for links to many great resources.

• Ready/Set/Go Handbook - 36-page official Handbook for Wildfire Safety and Emergency Preparedness. This is the one mailed to every residential address in the county, every year.
• CodeRED Emergency Alerts - official county alerts sent by phone, text and/or email. Sign up for CodeRED Emergency Alerts on this page.
• Know Your Evacuation Zone: click here to find out what your Zone Number is for your home or business address (type your address into the upper left box). When evacuation warnings/orders are issued, they will be by Zone Number, NOT by street names (NOT "south of Ridge Road, west of Hwy 20" etc.). Enter your address in the white search box (upper left of map) to find out YOUR zone number. Write it down! Post it on your refrigerator and make it a Contact in your cellphone (First name: "Evacuation," Last name: "Zone"). Here's a PDF you can make into a large, printed map of ALL ZONES: Evacuation Zone Map Packet - Nevada County.pdf
  
• The Ready Nevada County Dashboard has many helpful features. In a wildfire event large enough to trigger the opening of the County's Emergency Operations Center (EOC), the Dashboard is where you will find constantly updated information on fire status, evacuations, available shelters and more.
• Hi Lo Siren County Video - hear what the "YOU MUST LEAVE NOW" warning siren sounds like.
• Neighbors refusing to clear their hazardous vegetation in unincorporated Nevada County? Register for a free Citizen Access account and Request a Defensible Space Inspection by a county inspector who has the authority to enforce county codes. (If you live in the city of Grass Valley or Nevada City, the steps for reporting a hazard can be found on page 5 of this document.)
• County Road Vegetation Maintenance - then-County Department of Public Works Director Trisha Tillotson, in the April 2021 Coalition meeting, showed these 14 slides to illustrate their plan for brush clearing for safer ingress and egress on County roads.

Other Resources

• The  2022 Wildfire Season Preparedness Guide from the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County
• Are you a survivor of wildfire? Was your home lost or damaged? The Summer 2021 California Wildfires Helping Handbook: A Resource for Individuals, Families, and Small Businesses, is 80+ outstanding pages of information and resources available for Nevada County residents after the River Fire triggered FEMA assistance. Chapters include Housing, Insurance, FEMA, Personal Finances & Taxes, Document & Record Replacement, and more.
• Information to help property owners who are dealing with PG&E’s powerline tree clearing on private parcels Sept 14, 2018
  

Which Fire Agency Provides Protection Services for Your Neighborhood? - Check the map here 

Nevada County fire agencies have Joint Services agreements with each other and work closely together to respond to all fire emergencies. However, just ONE of them is officially responsible for your neighborhood. Click the map link above to see which one is yours. You need to know which agency this is, because they are the fire officials who you, as a Firewise Community representative, will be working with on activities to ensure fire safety in your community (for example, with the 30-Day Courtesy Notice to owners of non-compliant properties).

Water Tanks for Fire Suppression: 
Nevada County Consolidated Fire District has standards for Fire Protection Water Supply Systems. If you want to install a tank for potential use by firefighters (not for personal, home or agricultural water), it must meet the standards. The April 2022 Powerpoint from Lauren Drutz with photos and details of her tanks is here as a PDF..

Here are the County of Nevada Fire Safe Standards for an Emergency Water Storage Tank.pdf This is the document discussed by Cal Fire's Jim Matthias in April 2022.

Nevada County Fire Districts

Grass Valley Fire Department

Higgins Fire Protection District

Nevada City Fire Department

Nevada County Consolidated Fire District

North San Juan Fire District

Ophir Hill Fire Protection District

Peardale-Chicago Park Fire Department

Penn Valley Fire Protection District

Rough & Ready Fire Department

Truckee Fire Protection District

This page has information and resources for helping the leaders of individual Firewise Communities (FWCs) administer their local FWC. If anyone in your leadership team has a Facebook profile, have them join our Coalition Facebook group here, where we share good ideas, questions and answers.

Wildfire Preparedness Educational Resources for your FWC

This website is for you and your FWC members. You can use anything here to help the residents in your neighborhood(s) know what to do and how to do it. If a topic is missing that you want to cover, let us know and we'll consider adding it. Our Education Resources section has several excellent one-page PDFs you can print and distribute (or link to in your emails to your members). In particular, be sure everyone has a copy of Early Warning Alerts-Weather & How to Stay Informed.

Administering Your FWC Day-to-Day

Non-compliant residents in your FWC: 

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

Making the 30-Day Notice work.docx  guidelines for how to implement the program (MS Word docx)

30-Day Clean-Up Courtesy Notice template - lot with structure.docx (MS Word docx)

30-Day Clean-Up Courtesy Notice template - vacant lot.docx (MS Word docx)

Everyday Communication with your FWC Residents

-- Get customizable blank letterhead with the NFPA Firewise logo on it here in Microsoft Word docx format.. Insert your own FWC name in the header where you see "Foxwood - Slate Creek." If you can't open a Word doc, you have two options: 1) download this PDF with the NFPA logo but no FWC name above the black line, OR 2) we can provide you with a PDF that has both your FWC name and NFPA logo on it. You can print the PDF, place in your printer paper tray, then format your letter to start underneath the header. Use the Ask A Question contact form to request this, directed to Susan Rogers. Be sure to specify the name of your Firewise Community.

-- Here's a great flyer from Deer Creek South Side (designed by Lorraine Gervais) which we hope to make available as a template that other FWCs can adapt. They also have a free website on Google -- check it out here.

-- Lake Wildwood FWC has provided us with customizable Microsoft Word docxs based on materials they use for Forming Neighborhood Groups. Here are a sample Meeting Invitation, Contact Roster, Coordinators Agenda, and Participants Agenda, which you can download and tweak as needed to help set up and lead meetings in your own FWC. Thank you LWW! (If you can't open a Word docx, see above for contacting Susan Rogers to get PDFs.)

Here is the Powerpoint (in PDF format) about Lake Wildwood's communications with their residents, including excellent tips on motivation and communication, presented by Sharon Allen at our November 1, 2022 meeting.

-- If your FWC maintains your own "firewise" website or Facebook page, scroll to the end of this page to see Guidelines we hope you'll follow.

-- 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 contact the Fire Safe Council to send a message to Pat Leach, the Firewise Communities Coordinator. Our Coalition does not have access to a list of all the FWC reps.

Preparing for EMERGENCY Communication with your FWC Residents

Two Coalition meetings have been held on emergency communications to your own residents in case of wildfire (phone tree, short-wave radio, etc.). Videos of both meetings are available: click SHOW MORE in the description to see hotlinks that allow you to jump directly to the program speakers. Our May 2021 recording is here, and the March 2022 video here.

The Mendocino County Fire Safe Council has also worked on this issue. Here is their website page on Neighborhood Emergency Communications, with information on two low-cost group dialing services and one FWC that has found VHF radio to be their long-term solution. The latter has a very detailed document you can download entitled, "Neighborhood Communications in Mountainous Terrain" that gives their entire history of comparing various options.

Funding for Your FWC Neighborhood Projects

-- Healthy Forest Funding & More -- how the Greenhorn FWC got grant funding from the County of Nevada's FEMA Resiliency funds for installation of two water tanks for fire response. Excellent Powerpoint (converted to PDF) by Dianne Marshall, presented at the December 2021 Coalition meeting.

-- 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

NFPA Annual 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.

Common Findings From Firewise Hazard Assessments 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?  (this is a Powerpoint presented at October 2019 Coalition meeting (with photos) converted to PDF)

Communication Guidelines for Websites created and maintained by individual FWCs: If your Firewise Community is able to create and run your own website:

• The primary focus of your FWCommunity website should be to post your LOCAL FWC 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. The risk is that your very local website may not be able to keep up with constantly-changing information and updated research. It is important to direct homeowners and residents to sites with the most up-to-date information from government and fire agencies. Instead, we ask that you create links to the Educational Resources page on this Coalition site plus these official websites on your local community website.