This spring, the Berkeley City Council will vote on an initiative known as EMBER, a scientifically-validated plan designed to mitigate wildfire risk.
EMBER is authored by Fire Chief Sprague and his BFD team. Four sitting City Councilmembers including Brent Blackaby, and retired Councilmember Susan Wengraf, partnered with BFD in this effort.
If passed, EMBER will be one of the most consequential undertakings to protect house and home in Berkeley’s history. It will touch all our lives.
The foundation of EMBER (Effective Mitigations for Berkeley’s Ember Resilience), rests on actions homeowners should take in the Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone. These actions will thwart a wildfire from turning into all out conflagration with a potential to erase not only our own neighborhood but the entire City. In other words, this is not just a Hills-only issue, it is a City-wide issue, and that is why a councilwoman who represents part of West Berkeley was integrally involved in the drafting of EMBER.
As much as BFD would want to defend every home from burning, it is numerically impossible in catastrophic wildfire conditions. The reason is that it takes 15 firefighters and five to six apparatus to fight just one house fire. Therefore, as homeowners, we must do our part.
Preventing embers from entering our homes is our greatest defense against wildfire. Wildfire science has shown that we can significantly reduce this threat by adopting relatively simple home hardening and defensible space strategies. According to the BFD, combining home hardening and defensible space measures can reduce wildfire home loss by 80%.
As outlined in the EMBER initiative, Zone Zero is what we must focus our attention to in terms of defensible space. This area within five feet around our homes should be cleared of combustible materials. For home hardening, best practices include a Class A non-combustible roof, ember-resistant vents, gutter guards, and non-combustible fences.
In the event of a wildfire, our neighborhood is Berkeley’s first line of defense. We will be the buffer of “prepared parcels.” Therefore the future of Berkeley and generations to come depends on the sacrifices we make today. Can we rise to the occasion? Of course we can. It’s emotionally difficult to remove plants we’ve tended to for decades. But we must remember it is for a greater good. And as neighbors, we must work together:
“All the defensible space mitigations, primarily Zone Zero, along with the home hardening measures, must be implemented on a sufficient number of contiguous parcels in a neighborhood for the wildfire hazard to be meaningfully reduced. Doing anything less has been validated to be almost meaningless with regard to hazard reduction.” Sprague
The scientific underpinning of EMBER is incontrovertible. This is why Chief Sprague’s initiative needs our full support. We are blessed to have his and Assistant Chief Arnold’s leadership in this effort, as well as all the Berkeley firefighters. Let’s show our appreciation by working together to get EMBER passed and start implementing its measures before wildfire season commences.
Please come to the March 25 City Council and speak to let the council know that you support EMBER. If you cannot be there (distant second choice 
), please write to the Mayor and City Council (council@berkeleyca.gov) and let them know you support EMBER.
This document is a personal opinion by the author, and does not purport to represent the views of the website