FIRESafe MARIN News

Help us "FundAGoat" in Marin! We're working to raise $100,000 to bring goats to Marin communities for wildfire hazard reduction. To Donate: Text "Goat" to 77453 or visit www.ifundahero.com/donations/firesafe-marin. Your donation is tax deductible, and if you donate $100 or more, you'll get to name a goat!

Fund-A-Goat

Grazing is a natural, economical, and sustainable solution to reducing vegetation fuel and wildfire hazards in Marin. In 2018 FIRESafe MARIN helped bring 800 goats and sheep to central Marin where they grazed more than 340 acres of high-risk grass woodlands, clearing 1-2 acres a day of vegetation, including non-native, invasive plants. This approach proved cost effective and gentle on the land, reducing the fuels for fire, restoring native grasslands where firefighters can more easily control fires, limiting greenhouse gas emissions, and creating pastoral fuel breaks in the open spaces between communities.  In 2019, with your help, we plan to expand this valuable project to 1200+ goats and nearly 500 acres!

Please join us May 4, 2019 at 10AM at Embassy Suites in San Rafael for a FREE community presentation and panel discussion on wildfire preparedness, with an introduction to important new efforts that will elp make Marin more wildfire resilient.  We'll have tables and booths representing a variety of stakeholders, contractors, and agency representatives of agancies and industries who play a role in Marin's wildfire readiness.

What: Opening with a special guest presentation from a Camp Fire evacuation survivor, the Marin Wildfire Forum will look at prevention and preparedness through a countywide lens. Representatives from local government, fire agencies, land managers, emergency services, law enforcement, community leaders and wildfire experts will update residents on progress to date, work to come, and future needs. Residents will learn what they can do to protect their homes and what we can do together to make Marin as wildfire safe and emergency ready as possible.

FIRESafe MARIN recently added an "events' page to our informative website, listing upcoming events, seminars, workshops, and more.  Take a look at www.firesafemarin.org/events for current and upcoming listings, and check back often. 

Highlights

• Our popular education program has been updated and renamed for 2019.  The new "Living With Fire" seminars will be offered in 30, 60, and 90 minute formats throughout the year, and may require pre-registration for attendance.  Multiple sessions are already online in April and May (Seminars are currently scheduled for April 25, April 29, May 5, May 7).
• Don't miss the May 4 Marin Community Wildfire Forum at Embassy Suites in San Rafael.  This important event should should be on the calendar for all Marin residents concerned about wildfire and who want to learn what your fire departments and public partners are doing to reduce our risk.
• On May 8, the "FIRESTORM: Wildfires and Climate Change " forum will include experts and panelists in a discussion about climate change and its role in driving wildfires. 

FIRESTORM: WILDFIRES AND CLIMATE CHANGE - A Public Forum

Wednesday, May 8, 2019 | 7:00 – 9:00 PM
San Rafael Community Center, 618 B St., San Rafael

FIRESafe MARIN is pleased to welcome Western Oaks Village in Novato as Marin's newest Firewise USA site.

The homes are interspersed with vegetation including fine fuel, tall grasses, French Broom, all sizes of shrubs, and trees. The site has between 900-1000 trees, and is a classic WUI environment. 

3 Marin Firewise USA sites applied for grants from the NFPA and State Farm for Wildfire Community Preparedness Day projects.  All three grants were awarded through a competitive voting process, with the Marin support of FIRESafe MARIN's subscriber votes.

Grants were awarded to:

We need your daily votes for the next 2 weeks!

WIldfire Community Preparedness Day is May 4, 2019.  FIRESafe MARIN is helping spearhead local projects in neighborhoods all over Marin that day.  Several neighborhoods applied for special grant funding from State Farm Insurance and the NFPA to help support their projects that day.

Projects are selected based on the number of votes they receive!  Help us by voting for Marin's efforts!  You can vote once per day, per device!  Vote daily from now until March 1

Manor Hill, Fairfax: Project Overview

Register Online!

You're invited to join us for Marin's first FREE "Wildfire Safety and Vegetation Management Workshop For Contractors" to help Marin's many Green Industry professionals, including - TREE SERVICES, ARBORISTS, AND LANDSCAPERS - better understand Marin's wildfire risk, defensible space laws, and best practices for creating a wildfire resistant landscape.

Are you a neighborhood leader? Join us for a Firewise Workshop March 8, 2019

Friday, March 8, 2019 from 9am-11am, FIRESafe MARIN will host a community workshop to help Marin neighborhoods organize to achieve Firewise USA^® recognition. Learn about the benefits and challenges of the Firewise USA^® program and how it might fit for your for your neighborhood, while preparing a plan to help your community survive a wildfire. We'll have representatives on-hand from every Marin fire department, land management agencies like MMWD and Open Space, PG&E, and others to help you understand Marin's wildfire risk and develop a neighborhood-scale plan to address the risk. The NFPA's Firewise USA^® program is a process that empowers neighbors to work together in reducing their wildfire risk. Join the growing network of more than 1,500 recognized Firewise USA^® sites/communities (including 30 32 neighborhoods in Marin, more than any other county in California!) taking action and ownership in preparing and protecting their homes against the threat of wildfire.

This seminar is intended for neighborhood leaders interested in organizing a Firewise effort in their community - it's not a class for individual homeowners looking for wildfire safety tips. Look for homeowner preparedness classes beginning spring 2019 at www.firesafemarin.org!

Friday, March 8, 2019 from 9am-11am, FIRESafe MARIN will host a community workshop to help Marin neighborhoods organize to achieve Firewise USA^® recognition. Learn about the benefits and challenges of the Firewise USA^® program and how it might fit for your for your neighborhood, while preparing a plan to help your community survive a wildfire. We'll have representatives on-hand from every Marin fire department, land management agencies like MMWD and Open Space, PG&E, and others to help you understand Marin's wildfire risk and develop a neighborhood-scale plan to address the risk. The NFPA's Firewise USA^® program is a process that empowers neighbors to work together in reducing their wildfire risk. Join the growing network of more than 1,500 recognized Firewise USA^® sites/communities (including 30 neighborhoods in Marin, more than any other county in California!) taking action and ownership in preparing and protecting their homes against the threat of wildfire.

This seminar is intended for neighborhood leaders interested in organizing a Firewise effort in their community - it's not a class for individual homeowners looking for wildfire safety tips. Look for homeowner preparedness classes beginning spring 2019 at www.firesafemarin.org!