(excerpts from Eye on Napa newsletter, Patricia Damery)
Red flag warnings in May!
Once again, the fire season is threatening. Already the first Red Flag Warning has been issued. In a recent Napa Valley Register editorial, All of Napa Valley needs to face the threat of wildfire, Christopher Thompson, firefighter and head of the Napa Communities Firewise Foundation, was quoted as saying, we are facing “an existential crossroad.” We have to do something to reduce the threat, or our lifestyle will continue to erode.
In early April, the Board of Supervisors voted to allot $6.4 million for shade fire breaks and vegetative management this year, the first of a $42 million, five-year program to make our county safer. Particular attention is paid to evacuation routes and reducing overgrowth in our wildlands. But this will not be enough. We each need to take responsibility to make our homes as safe as possible, and there is help.
In November 2020, my husband and I responded to an invitation by the Mt Veeder Fire Safe Council (MVFSC) to receive a three-hour wildfire risk evaluation.
We live on the ridge between Dry Creek Road and Redwood Road, an area deemed “moderate fire risk.” About half of our ranch is heavily wooded. Jeff Enos, a retired firefighter and Community Outreach/Education & Data Gathering Project Manager for MVFSC, conducted the evaluation. The evaluation was thorough, assessing our address’s visibility from Dry Creek Road, the width and paving of the ¾ mile driveway, the required clearance of the trees overhead on the driveway, evaluating the defensible space around the house, and recommending possible evacuation routes.
Twelve years ago, a Mt. Veeder Fire Safe Council consultant recommended we clear brush and limb up trees in the 100-foot defensible space around the house, but this meeting was more extensive. The 100-foot defensible space is divided into three zones: 5 feet from the house, 5-30 feet from the house, and 30-100 feet from the house. As you move closer, the requirements change.
Our home is stucco and masonry with a tile roof, so the house itself is pretty “hardened”. However, we had landscaping within the 5-foot perimeter on the south and east sides that needed to be removed and replaced with succulents or a high fuel-moisture content ground cover. Enos also showed me places embers could lodge near our wooden doors and windows, embers being one of the significant ways fires spread.
We were mostly clear within the 5-30-foot range, except for rows of beloved lavender plants to our east. These we have thinned so the plants are spaced approximately two times the height of each plant. (sigh!) The 30- 100-foot zone also needed brush removal in one area that had regrown, and the propane tank again required to be cleared 10 feet around it. Defensible space is an ongoing project.
Another problem was our fire hydrant. A fire hose would not connect to the 4 ½” connection on the hydrant. How can it be that our fire hydrant, installed to code when we built our home 21 years ago, has the wrong width to connect to a fire hose? In Lake Berryessa last summer, firefighters were unable to connect firehoses to hydrants for this very reason. Enos gave us a link to order the 2 ½” adapter, which was easy to install.
Enos discussed evacuation routes. An experienced firefighter, he educated us on how fire moves, where it will likely come from on our property, and how to handle that. I found myself relieved, less helpless, and less anxious.
This evaluation was invaluable, and it was free. If your area has this service, I highly recommend it.
Our way of life is under threat. Thank you, County Board of Supervisors, for funding the first of a five-year program to make our county more fire resilient. Our county has begun, and so can each of us.
RESOURCES
At present, the Mount Veeder Fire Safe Council is the only one in Napa County offering the Wildfire Risk Evaluation. They obtained a grant to cooperate with the neighboring Mayacamas Fire Safe Council in Sonoma County.
Other Fire Safe Councils in Napa County are interested in doing the same thing, and the Napa Communities Firewise Foundation is encouraging this and assisting. Much more information about county-wide efforts and the other Napa County is at Fire Safe Councils.
In Sonoma County, the Mayacamas Fire Safe Council also offers Wildfire Risk Evaluations.
Napa Valley Register Master Gardeners’ fire-wise landscaping suggestions.