How do you build a fire resilient community?
Is it the responsibility of the fire agencies, such as County Fire and City Fire or the Montecito and Carp-Summerland fire agencies?
Or what role, if any, should the community play? Or what part of the community, if any?
Often, the onus has been placed on those who live on the edge of the chaparral environment, in what’s been termed the WUI or wildland-urban interface, rather than in thinking in terms of community-wide solutions.
As if it were someone else’s issue to solve.
But as temperatures rise, humidities drop and fire seasons become year-round, wildfire is now an urban problem as well. It appears, we’re all in this together.
Wildfire Is a Fact of Life
On Thursday, we will be remembering the Jesusita Fire, which destroyed 80 homes in 2009 and came close to costing several firefighters their lives. More recently, the Cave Fire came close to repeating the same type of catastrophic loss.
Wildfire is a fact of life for Santa Barbarans, and much of the community is vulnerable.
Wildfire Preparedness Exposition
This week, Santa Barbara is officially kicking off Wildfire Prevention Month, and to highlight that, the Santa Barbara County Firesafe Council is hosting a Wildfire Preparedness Exposition focused on helping homeowners understand how they and their neighbors can best prepare for the next wildfire.
The exposition will take place at Direct Relief, located near the airport at 6100 Wallace Becknell Road in Goleta. It will run from Friday evening through Sunday.
See the exposition schedule online for details.
Who Should Come?
Anyone who is interested in learning more about what they can do to protect themselves or their neighborhood is encouraged to come.
All of the fire-related agencies and experts from the Santa Barbara Firesafe Council will be there to answer your questions and help you make the decisions you need to keep your family and home safe.
Learn more as well about new sources of funding that are being made available at the state level to support programs such as FireWise USA, neighborhood chipping programs, and use of fuel treatments such as goats or sheep.
Firesafe Council Leading the Way
Kicking off Friday night’s talks will be Santa Barbara County Third District Supervisor Joan Hartmann, who will be speaking about “The Role of Firesafe Councils in the Wildfire Mitigation Puzzle.”
Traditionally, the Santa Barbara Firesafe Council has served as more of an educational nonprofit organization. However, that is changing as increased availability to grants has provided the opportunity to take on a more active role.
“The Firesafe Council is a perfect vehicle for leading the way,” Santa Barbara County Fire Marshall Rob Hazard said. “Because it covers the entire county, it doesn’t have the limitations that the fire agencies have.”
“While Firesafe’s focus is both on education and action,” said Paul Van Leer, the organization’s president, “funding from the state now allows us to play a very active role in the wildfire resiliency effort.”
This includes development of videos such as “Separating Your Home From Wildfire” that highlights how homeowners can protect their homes, hiring staff to work directly with the community, and support for development of regional wildfire protection plans like that underway for Gaviota.
Another key component of their new action plan includes oversight of the Firewise USA program designed to mobilize homeowner groups to develop their own local fire mitigation programs.
Walk Into Wildfire
One of the most captivating parts of the exposition will be an exhibit by the Burn Cycle Project. Developed by local filmmaker Ethan Turpin, it provides an immersive multimedia display in which viewers walk into a room with three big huge screens that show a fire burning toward and then all around them.
Much the film’s footage was taken during recent wildfires and prescribed burns in our area, using cameras housed in fireproof boxes that are put inlace ahead of the fire’s advancing flames.
Key Takeaways From the Exposition
“This is just the start,” Firesafe Council president Van Leer said. “We hope to have more events in upcoming months, and we plan on holding the exposition every year in the future.”
The goal is simple: Make connections with local homeowners and neighborhood groups to create partnerships focused on building fire resilient communities.
Perhaps the key takeaway from the Firesafe Council and fire agencies is the growing sense that achieving this resiliency is best done when the community takes an active role in the process and in which neighborhoods and individual homeowners are key players.
If for no other reason, attending the exposition could provide an opportunity to learn more what you and your neighbors can do to be a part of the solution.
— Noozhawk outdoor writer Ray Ford can be reached at rford@noozhawk.com. Click here for his website, SBoutdoors.com. Follow him on Twitter: @riveray. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.