Survive & Thrive
How the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council Helps Us Coexist with Wildfire
As the relentless and catastrophic wildfire seasons of the last several years have shown, fire suppression is not a sufficient long-term approach to living with wildfire. Over time, California learned to adapt building codes to better survive the inevitability of earthquakes. Similarly, we need to adapt how and where we build, how we maintain our properties, and even how we behave, to recognize that Mendocino County’s inhabitants have chosen to live in an environment where wildfire is prevalent.
The Mendocino County Fire Safe Council (MCFSC) exists to do help us do just that. Its mission: “to inform, empower, and mobilize county residents to survive and thrive in a wildfire-prone environment.” Incorporated in 2004, the group was an outgrowth of a community mobilization to preserve the firefighting airplane service stationed at the Ukiah Airport. Since then, it has gone through a number of active and inactive periods. But as the threat of wildfire to our communities continues to escalate, an engaged, robust MCFSC is more necessary than ever.
The latest resurgence began in 2018, assisted by the Mendocino County Resource Conservation District (MCRCD). The MCRCD used both its staff and reputation to win grants on behalf of the MCFSC. By the end of 2019, the organization was active enough to require its own staff and executive director. As a result, Scott Cratty assumed MCFSC leadership on January 1, 2020.
Scott came to the MCFSC after working in the local food movement. Among other things, he co-founded the Good Farm Fund, served as General Manager of the Mendocino County Farmers Market Association, managed the Ukiah Farmers Market, and owned and operated the Westside Renaissance Market neighborhood grocery in Ukiah (covered in Word of Mouth, Spring 2017). While jumping from local food into fire may seem like a big shift, there is a common thread: preserving farmland, protecting access to fresh healthy food, and keeping our neighborhoods safe. These priorities share a lot of common ground, opening up opportunities for us to build a robust, safe, and healthy community.
A prescribed burn outside Anderson Valley off of Hwy 253—Spring 2021
As a property owner, there is a lot you can do to be ready to survive and thrive in an area prone to wildfire, and the internet is an excellent source for information. A great first step is to visit CAL FIRE’s Ready, Set, Go program online. Follow the guidance to get you and your family prepared (readyforwildfire.org).
Next, focus on Home Hardening, including creating defensible space (as required by state law) around your home. The first 5 feet around your home, including exterior decks, should be entirely free of combustibles. The 5-30 feet zone should be “lean and green,” with healthy vegetation clustered in islands and open space between them to prevent continuity that could carry fire closer to your home. Between 30 and 100 feet, fuel should be reduced, with brush cut back and removed, tree limbs pruned up to 10 feet, vegetation again clustered into islands, and grass no higher than 4 inches. Instructions and more detail are available in the MCFSC video series available on our site (firesafemendocino.org/homehardening).
It’s important to understand that most homes are not lost during a wildfire due to a wall of flame passing through. Instead, they fall victim to embers that drift in, potentially from a fire that is as much as a mile away. Hardening your home includes steps to protect your home from these dangerous embers, like sealing vents, keeping roofs and gutters empty of dried vegetation, and clearing vegetation around large windows. Windows are more vulnerable to heat than your siding, so if nearby vegetation or other flammable matter is near them, they could shatter and allow embers to enter and ignite your home.
Another fire safe strategy: Help create a resilient and fire safe neighborhood. Unless you have your own handy helicopter and pad or your own personal fire break lane to the freeway, a safe egress for you to escape and first responders to gain access will depend on how well your neighbors have maintained their portions of the access route. Keep in mind that one of the most high-risk situations for your home is when one of your neighbors’ homes catches fire, so even though you can accomplish a lot by preparing your individual property for wildfire, working with your neighbors can significantly increase your fire safety.
An excellent place to start: Organize a Neighborhood Fire Safe Council (NFSC). The MCFSC currently has about 40 affiliated NFSCs, and we hope that your neighborhood will become the 41st. For information on how to begin a NFSC in your area, visit the “Prepare Your Neighborhood” page on our website. You can find out if a NFSC exists near you, and, if not, how to start your own.
In the last 18 months, the MCFSC has increased the scope and scale of its operations tremendously—so much so that it was recently named a state legislature Nonprofit of the Year. Among other things, MCFSC is working to assess and prioritize needs, obtain and manage grants, bring resources to projects, encourage and assist neighborhood groups, provide practical guidance for property maintenance, and work with policy makers. In addition to landing roughly $500,000 of its own grant projects in the last year, MCFSC has taken on the management and implementation of other major grants in partnership with the County of Mendocino.
Among its major projects, MCFSC currently provides county-wide community chipper service (chipperday.com/ mendocino), a program to help income-qualified seniors and handicapped residents (firesafemendocino.org/defensible-space-assistance-program), and a grant project to help qualified county residents upgrade to more fire safe roofs (firesaferoof.com). For information about all of MCFSC’s current programs, go to firesafemendocino.org.
Regardless of how our ideologies might diverge in other respects, there is plenty of common ground to work with when it comes to creating a healthy and safe community. By working together to maintain defensible space, harden our homes, keep escape routes cleared, and stay prepared, we can coexist with wildfire and be a community that survives and thrives in spite of it.
Mendocino County Fire Safe Council
P.O. Box 263, Ukiah, CA 95482
(707) 462-3662 | firesafemendocino.org
