Mill Valley Fire Department Ramps Up Pre-Emptive Efforts to Fight Wildfires

With Gov. Jerry Brown imposing mandatory water restrictions for cities and towns across drought-ravaged California, the reality of yet another dry winter for Mill Valley means that fire season – and the City of Mill Valley’s pre-emptive measures to combat it – kick into full gear this month.

“We are experiencing our fourth straight year of drought conditions and we’re two months ahead of normal in terms of the dryness of the vegetation that surrounds us here in Mill Valley,” interim Fire Chief Tom Welch said. “Most California fire seasons can be intense, this coming one in particular is set to be a doozy,” Welch added. “With the drought backdrop, we are gearing up and anticipating many challenges. We are asking that community members do their part.”

Welch pointed to plants that can kickstart a fire, such as manzanita, madrone and chamise. “Larger drought-stricken fuels are ready to burn and grasses will be tinder dry soon,” he said. “All wildland fire agencies are staffing seasonal fire stations early in anticipation of an intense summer.”

Mill Valley has been fortunate to go 80 years without a major wildfire. The last one was a 1929 blaze that torched 2,500 acres of Mt. Tam’s southern slope and destroyed 117 homes in three days. Between 1859 and 1932, the City was hit with eight major wildland fires. Fire officials estimate the amount of fire fuel on the mountain has tripled from what it was in 1929.

What can you do?
For Mill Valley residents and property owners, there are immediate actions you can take, and Mill Valley Fire Department personnel will be out in full force to help. Firefighters will be in neighborhoods conducting fire safety home inspections, making sure that trees on your property are limbed up, grasses near your home are cut short and debris is cleared from your roof, gutters and eves.

Under State law, homeowners are required to clear 10 feet of vegetation along both sides of their driveway and on their street frontage. Firefighters are also checking to make sure your chimney is screened to catch fireplace embers and to ensure that your address is visible from the street.

Fire personnel conduct inspections all over town with a specific focus on homes built on hillsides and adjacent to heavily forested areas. “If you have to drive or walk up a hill from downtown Mill Valley to get to your home, we will be focusing on your property,” Welch said.

For the inspections, the City uses a formula that calculates a “weed abatement score,” giving homeowners a number to associate with the severity of the fire fuel problem around their house. The formula grades the home on a variety of categories, including the grade of the slope, the size of the overgrown area and the type of overgrowth (grasses, bushes, etc.). Though multiple violations can result in fines, Welch said most residents respond quickly to the recommended abatement measures after an inspection.

Firewise
As part of its larger campaign to reduce fire fuels around homes and neighborhoods, the City is an active supporter of the National Fire Protection Association’s Firewise Communities Program, which provides accreditation to individual neighborhoods that reduce vegetation and create “defensible space” between homes and a possible wildland fire.

In the past year, the Blithedale Highlands (Kite Hill) and Shelter Ridge Homeowners Association garnered Firewise accreditation, reduced their insurance premiums and lessened the risk of being dropped by their insurance carriers.

Fire Department staff will work with neighborhood groups and Home Owners Associations through the Firewise process, which breaks down into five steps:

1. Obtain a wildfire risk assessment from the Fire Department
2. Create an action plan based on that assessment
3. Host a “Firewise Day” event
4. Invest a minimum of $2 per capita towards reducing your fire risk
5. Submit a Firewise application

Not only does the City take on the burden of the application process, Barnes said, but it can also directly reduce a community’s cost of reducing fire fuels. For instance, if three or more homes in an area plan to have vegetation reduced or removed from around their homes, the City can set up a Chipper Day, to give residents an easy way to dispose of the dangerous fire fuels from their property.

Vegetation Management Program
The inspections are one component of the Fire Department’s multi-faceted, Municipal Service Tax funded, Vegetation Management Program, which has an annual budget of $300,000 and is already in engaged in fire season prevention activities. The program is focused on reducing fire fuels, and includes the following major services, among others:

• Chipper Days, which give residents an easy way to dispose of the dangerous fire fuels from their property.(Click here for more info and to schedule a Chipper Day in your neighborhood).
• Fire Breaks. Fire Department staff have created a ring of cleared space along the Blithedale Ridge Fire Road and Old Railroad Grade Fire Road. The fire breaks will act to slow down a potentially devastating wildfire. City roads, fire roads, ridgetops and the canyon floor are also regularly cleared of fire fuels. Thousands of tons of dangerous fire fuel vegetation have been cleared in Mill Valley in the past decade.
• Education/outreach. The City holds workshops and seminars for all residents, covering the key components of vegetation management and defensible space. For example, did you know that residents are required to keep flammable fuels a minimum of 30 feet from the house, up to 100 feet or more on slopes? These workshops help educate the community and give them the tools they need to comply with requirements.
• Defensible Space App. The City’s web-based application allows residents to calculate the necessary defensible space around a home. The app asks residents to click the type of vegetation they have within 30 feet and 100 feet of their home, as well as the direction the home faces and the severity of the slope on which it’s built. With that info, the app calculates a score that correlates to how many feet of defensible space should be cleared around the home on each side, from 30 to 100 feet.
• Demo Garden. The City’s educational efforts were bolstered in 2012 by the creation of a 1,100-square-foot garden designed to showcase defensible space-conscious landscaping. The garden, located near the Public Safety Building at 1 Hamilton Drive, includes a number of fire-resistant and drought tolerant plants and features “islands” of plantings with space between them as well as the need for a 30-foot “clean and green zone” between the garden and the home.

The City’s Vegetation Management Program, which had a $15,000 annual budget in 1996 and now costs the City $300,000 a year, is entirely funded by the Municipal Services Tax. The $145 per parcel tax was first approved by voters in 1987 for 10 years, was renewed in 1997 and again in 2006 at a maximum of $195 per parcel.

The MST generates $1.2 million in revenue annually. Along with the $300,000 budget for the Vegetation Management Program, the MST also funds $900,000 in street maintenance and road repair. The City Council is in the process of planning for the renewal of the program, which expires in 2018.

Click here for more info on the City’s Vegetation Management Program and for a full list of its services.

Upcoming Events:

• May 2 - National Wildfire Community Preparedness Day: Join communities across the United States as they commit a couple of hours, or the entire day, and join others throughout the nation making communities a safer place to live. Challenge friends, family members, a faith-based group or youth organization to create a project and accomplish something great together! Efforts will raise wildfire awareness and help protect homes, neighborhoods and entire communities, while increasing safety for wildland firefighters; or your project could lessen current post-fire impacts. Learn more.
  
  
• May 9 - Annual Emergency Drill: On Saturday, May 9, 2015, the City of Mill Valley is conducting its annual emergency evacuation drill. The area that will be the focus of the evacuation drill is the Blithedale Canyon and Middle Ridge neighborhoods. At 10:00am on May 9, 2015, our emergency sirens will activate alerting residents to evacuate to the designated check-in location at the parking lot of Mt. Carmel Church. A Telephone Emergency Notification System(TENS) message will be sent to all who have signed up for this valuable service. Once at the check-in, participants will be asked to complete an evacuation survey form. Emergency information and demonstrations will be provided by our community emergency partners, the Red Cross, Marin Humane Society, Whistlestop Wheels, Marin Municipal Medical Corps and the Mill Valley Emergency Preparedness Commission.
  
  
• May 15 - Assessing Residential Wildfires Hazards Workshop - Register today to join us on Friday, May 15, 2015 from 9am to 4pm at the Community Center. This free workshop will cover the major issues that contribute to wildland/urban fire loss, understanding Wildand/Urban fire, and the science and research of how landscape fires ignite homes and advances in reducing wildfire exposure. Wildlandfire experts will also discuss how to identify and mitigate structural and vegetative wildfire hazards and steps to becoming a Firewise Community. Pre-registration is required due to the limited class size of 50 students. Check in starts at 8:30am. For more information or to pre-register, please contact Battalion Chief Scott Barnes at 415-389-4139 or email at sbarnes@cityofmillvalley.org.

If you have any questions or concerns about fire safety and your home, please contact the Mill Valley Fire Department at 415-389-4130 or visit our website for more information.