Friends and neighbors,
There are important news for our neighborhood about wildfire this month.
In-person Events
Our March 23 3:00pm Creston Firewise meeting
Please come to our Creston Firewise March 23rd 3:00 pm meeting, at Joy’s home (981 Creston). What we will do:
- Presentation of Zaytuna’s clearance and wildfire plan
- Discussion and approval of our common 2025 Firewise program.
- Discussion of upcoming grants for contiguous defensible space compliance
- Presentation: what to think of when planning new landscaping or new house remodels this year.
March 24 10:30am: BFD’s EMBER Presentation at the Public Safety Committee
BFD’s EMBER Proposal will be presented at the Public Safety Committee, this Monday, March 24, most likely at 10:30am (the meeting has not been posted yet, and normally occurs at 10:30am, but has occasionally started at 10:00am).
This EMBER proposal represents BFD’s best options to stop a wildfire coming from Tilden. It represents our neighborhood’s best chance of survival. It is important to support this proposal. If you can, please attend the meeting on March 24, as well as an upcoming City Council meeting where EMBER will be presented, likely in April.
If you cannot attend in person, please send a support letter to PolicyCommittee@berkeleyca.gov
May 3rd 4:00pm in-person presentation: lessons from the SoCal fires
For Wildfire Community Preparedness Day, we are putting together a presentation, by BFD, at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church (401 Grizzly Peak Blvd), at 4:00pm on May 3rd, that will discuss lessons learned in the SoCal fires. The presentation is open to all Berkeley Firewise neighborhood members. We will also try to offer visits of properties that have largely satisfied Zone 0, 1 and 2 requirements.
New and important
New Berkeley Firewise website at BerkeleyFirewise.org
Our Firewise group, in collaboration with Firebreakers (our immediate neighbors on Keeler) and several others, put up a major new website focused on wildfire danger in Berkeley, at BerkeleyFirewise.org.
We have a section of the website to ourselves, for Creston Firewise, which can be reached from the site’s home page, or my using the URL shortener bit.ly/CrestonFirewise. Come and check it out! Or, even better, volunteer to contribute by becoming a site editor with Michel or Sara!
Grants for contiguous defensible space zones
We are going after grants where we would get money to remove large trees or shrubs, when homeowners sign up for Zone 0, 1 and 2 compliance, and pledge volunteer hours to make it happen. The key is getting 80%+ of homeowners in a given “block” to agree.
There is immense benefit to being in a block, or a contiguous area of houses, where 80-85% of the properties have created defensible space (i.e. complied with Zone 0, Zone 1 and Zone 2 requirements): your area become defensible, and BFD is much more likely to be ready to defend it with firefighters (particularly if they feel it is safe for firefighters, i.e., among other things, with no privacy hedges or large trees on the streetside of the property). More on this soon—several of our block captains are knocking on doors as we speak.
More block captains in Creston South of Latham
We need more block captains in the South side of Creston. Please contact Sara or Michel!
Neighbor helping neighbor
The Mutual Aid Committee, led by Miye and Susan, is trying to provide resources or personpower for neighbors who are unable to make their home and property more fire resistant. Please contact them if you would like to volunteer to help other neighbors, and let them know how you are able to help.
Please volunteer for our first Neighbor helping Neighbor project on April 12!
We will clear defensive perimeters in at least one property , with help from a group of UC Berkeley students. We need people to plan, supervise, clear by hand, and provide food and transportation to the students. Contacts: Miye G and Susan B.
Reservations now open for chipper appointments and vegetation debris bins
As in the past years, the City of Berkeley offers free chipper appointments and vegetation debris bins where we can get vegetation chipped or removed for free. We are all eligible as we pay a special tax for it. Reservations are open.
Reminders, and in the news
BFD’s EMBER Proposal
BerkeleySide published a very favorable article on BFD’s new proposal, called EMBER, to fight wildfire in our own neighborhood.
BFD’s EMBER aims to improve the Hills’ resistance to a wildfire coming from Tilden during Diablo winds. It involves designating a new Fire Zone #4, that covers most of us, from Grizzly Peak going E to Wildcat Canyon. This plan involves requiring all of us to remove all combustibles from the 0-5 ft zone, as well as other possible measures, and increases enforcement on requirements. It also limits street parking on Red Flag days.
EMBER will result in improved wildfire resistance for us and for the Hills in general. We have investigated insurance impact and believe that, if anything, it will improve access to insurance because it will make the neighborhood more resilient to wildfire.
Berkeley Scanner’s supportive view of EMBER:
Governor Newsom’s 0-5ft zone enforcement
Governor Newsom wants to compel enforcement of the 0-5 foot zone (i.e. clearing all combustibles within 5 ft of all structures) in all California fire-prone areas by the end of the year. Here is the Associated Press’s take on it, as well as the CA.gov press release. In the past years we were wondering how watered down this regulation would be. Now it looks like it will be very strictly written and enforced.
Berkeley’s Grizzly Peak Project
The City of Berkeley is deploying the Grizzly Peak Project, which will clear some vegetation in the Right Of Way along many roads around our neighborhood, starting this month. We are in full support of the project, which will also contribute, although in a limited way, to decreasing dangerous fuels in our neighborhood. Here is a webinar of the project.
Free Mesh Program
The City of Berkeley has a FREE PROGRAM that provides mesh guards for vents, gutters, and decks. The program is free to all Firewise neighborhood members. The application asks about inspections: all of us already had a partial or full inspection (depending upon whether you were there last summer when inspectors passed by), and that is what you should reply. Here is how to measure for the mesh.