When I first moved to Nevada City in 2010, I had no idea how much I was going to learn. A lot of what I learned, I learned from my neighbors. I remember watching the nightly procession of mama plus three adorable baby skunks across Grove Street, until my neighbor across the street pointed out that the procession ended under my house, through a small door to the crawl space that I hadn’t noticed was open. Whoops! Thanks Rick.
My next big Aha didn’t come from a neighbor, it came from a debrief of the Caldor Fire in a local news article. When I read that wildfire experts considered some communities like Paradise and NEVADA CITY “unprotectable” from wild fire, I was shocked. Until then, I had always assumed that if there was a fire, the fire fighters would come with their big hoses to make sure my house did not burn. Isn’t that what all those “Thank you, Fire Fighters” signs on rural backroads were about? I quickly learned that personal responsibility plays a huge role in whether or not my house burns down. And if I did not realize this, how many other naive homeowners were out there? I immediately joined my local Firewise Community and learned as much as I could about best practices for wildfire resilience.Firewise Communities are self-organized neighborhood groups who work together to lower the risk of wildfire damage. In return, they get connection, safer neighborhoods, and a discount on their homeowners insurance!
Getting the Word Out
As part of my role with the Greater Champion Mine Firewise Community, I hosted community education events with free pizza, with the hope of getting the word out to as many neighbors as possible about how and why to harden their homes against wildfire. That role led to another role, leading the Coalition of Firewise Communities (FWC) in Nevada County, sharing best practices for wildfire resilience among close to 100 different FWC. There I learned that the best information, either in preparation for a fire or during an actual emergency, comes from the Nevada County Office of Emergency Services (OES). I also learned that most people in Nevada County were getting their information from Facebook. OES was fighting a battle with Nevada County Peeps when it came to getting accurate information out to the community. There had to be a better way.
When the Community Foundation of Nevada County asked me to create a COAD (Community Organizations Active in Disaster) for Western Nevada County as an independent consultant, I jumped at the chance. A COAD meets unmet needs during and after a disaster by connecting nonprofit and faith-based organizations and coordinating with OES. It is a giant network designed to quickly match needs with resources. It is also a great way to communicate quickly with large numbers of people, especially those who are most vulnerable in a disaster (elderly and disabled people). Organizations who serve these populations (including faith-based organizations) frequently already have communication channels in place, from good old fashioned phone trees to sophisticated digital databases that can address emergencies in some cases faster than an ambulance.
Fire Can Happen Anywhere — It’s Up to Us to Protect Our Homes
With a growing number of large-scale fires, people have become much more aware of the danger. The fires in Los Angeles were a huge wake-up call that fire can happen anywhere. “Fire season” has become part of our vernacular, although we could argue that we are now exposed to fire danger year round in drought years. With 150 years of fuels build-up, it’s a “when it burns” not “if it burns” scenario in Western Nevada County.
Efforts are happening on all fronts. The Zone 0 rule is about to become law in California. This law will require that the zone from your house (0 feet) to five feet out be free of vegetation or anything combustible, including fences that attach to the house. It will apply to both residential and commercial structures. This law will put the responsibility for reducing fire danger squarely on the shoulders of the home owner. Whether or not Nevada County has the capacity to enforce this law is questionable.
There is always more to be done. What about tourists? How will they know if there is an evacuation order that affects their AirBnB in Nevada City? What about people who are visiting the South Yuba River, where there is no cell service? How do we let them know about a fire and get them out safely? And what about the folks who are either unaware or uninterested in managing the vegetation on their properties? How do we reach them, really reach them? This question came up so much in Coalition meetings that Susan Rogers, one of the founders of the Coalition, wrote a paper about how to handle neighbors who simply won’t clear their brush.
Get to Know Your Neighbors
One solution for these challenges, and for many other scenarios that happen during a disaster? Get to know your neighbors. Host a potluck (I’m hosting our 5th annual Eden Ranch BBQ in October!) or a pizza party to talk about neighborhood safety (free food is always a draw). Know where the AirBnBs are so you can knock on the door in an emergency, and say hello to those tourists at the river (even the clueless ones who are drinking out of glass bottles and throwing cigarette butts on the ground).
When I first interviewed Kristen Cook (KC) about best practices for FWC, something she said stuck with me. KC heads the You Bet FWC, and has consistently found innovative ways to motivate her community to reduce wildfire risk and improve communications during an emergency. The advice she gave me was the opposite of innovative. The gist of it was, if you know your neighbors, you might be more inclined to clear your vegetation to keep them safe, especially if you know that lady living right next to you has mobility issues and no family close by.
It all comes down to community. A tight-knit, caring community is one of the things I love most about living in Nevada City. It means saying hi when you pass someone on a trail. Spending the extra 5 minutes chatting when you run into someone you know at SPD. And helping each other be more aware of what we can do to keep our homes and families safe from wildfire. And skunks.
