We All Need to Prepare for Fire

The destruction of Lahaina’s historic Old Town on Maui is a stark reminder of just how quickly fire can kill large numbers of people and devastate an entire community. This is something we must be particularly mindful of in California and Santa Clara County specifically. Six of the 10 largest fires in state history have occurred in the last three years, including the August 2020 SCU Lightning Complex fire which forced more than 1,000 county residents to evacuate their homes. Fire season now lasts longer and burns bigger.

As individuals and families, and as a community, we need to prepare for this new reality.

There are several easy and low-cost steps that residents can take to help makes their homes safer from fires.

• Installing 1/16 to 1/8 inch noncombustible, corrosion-resistant metal mesh screens over attic vents will keep wind-blown embers out of the house.
• Removing greenery and replacing wood chips or other combustible yard coverings with stone or decomposed granite 5 feet around your home will help prevent fire from reaching it.
• Making sure your home has a Class A fire-resistant rated roof. Wood shake shingles are not Class A fire-resistant rated. Most roofs made of asphalt shingles, concrete, brick, or masonry tiles, and metal shingles or sheets are Class A fire-resistant rated. The Office of the State Fire Marshal maintains a list of tested and approved materials at its?website.

The California Department of Insurance lists additional actions that can help make your home safer from fire here.

The Santa Clara County Fire Department is offering training in wildfire preparedness for county residents as part of its Ready, Set, Go program. There are 90-minute classes scheduled on August 21 and September 26 that cover red flag warnings and responding to extreme fire conditions, creating defensible space and fire safe landscaping, making your home more fire resistant, creating a wildfire action plan, evacuation planning, and programs and services to build fire resilient communities.

Another critical step to take to be fire prepared, and disaster prepared in general, in our community is to sign up for AlertSCC, the County of Santa Clara’s official emergency alert and warning system. It is free to use and will send out alerts about fires, earthquakes, floods, severe weather, and other emergency situations.

As a community, we need to ensure that we are allocating our fire protection resources in a way that reflects the situations we are facing in the 21st Century.

Sadly, facing massive wildfires is becoming an almost annual occurrence in California. We need to recognize this new reality and prepare accordingly.