FIRESafe MARIN News

Wildfire Preparedness Week is May 1-7, 2017.  Follow our daily updates for an easy, step by step guide to protecting your home!

This week, FIRESafe MARIN will provide a simple, 7 day guide to improving your home and family's wildfire preparedness with simple, easy, inexpensive tips.

Day 6: Go!  Create an Evacuation Plan

 Ready, Set, Go.  If you've followed days 1-5 of our Wildfire Preparedness Week step-by-step planning guide, you've now taken steps to "Ready" your home for wildfire, and are "set" to evacuate when the time is right.  Today we'll look at the last step in a process that we hope you'll never face - evacuate.

ALERT MARIN

If a wildfire requires evacuation in Marin and time allows, emergency managers will use the "Alert Marin" system to send out notifications by telephone, cellular, VOIP, and text message.  If you live, work or go to school in Marin County and are 18 and over, you may register your cell phone or VoIP (voice over internet protocol) phone to receive emergency alerts sent by call, text, email, or smartphone application from the County of Marin.

Listed and unlisted/blocked Marin County landline phone numbers are already included in the Alert Marin emergency notification system.  Cell phone and VoIP numbers are not included and will require your registration in our Self-Registration Portal.

Wildfire Preparedness Week is May 1-7, 2017.  Follow our daily updates for an easy, step by step guide to protecting your home!

This week, FIRESafe MARIN will provide a simple, 7 day guide to improving your home and family's wildfire preparedness with simple, easy, inexpensive tips.

Day 5: Now that You're Ready, Get Set!

Ready, Set, Go.  If you've followed days 1-4 of our Wildfire Preparedness Week step-by-step planning guide, you've now taken steps to "Ready" your home for wildfire.  By creating Defensible Space, and taking steps to harden your home and maintain fire resistant landscaping, firefighters have a fighting-chance to save your home when wildfire strikes.  Today we'll look at the first stage of preparation to evacuate.

Wildfire Preparedness Week is May 1-7, 2017.  Follow our daily updates for an easy, step by step guide to protecting your home!

This week, FIRESafe MARIN will provide a simple, 7-day guide to improving your home and family's wildfire preparedness with simple, easy, inexpensive tips.

Day 4: Choose the Right Plants

Plant selection in your garden and the space surrounding your home can play an important role in protecting your property, and your neighborhood, during a wildfire.  FIRESafe MARIN pioneered the concept of a "fire safe" plant list in the early 1990s, partnering with the University of California to develop a list of fire-resistant landscaping plants specific to Marin county, and northern California's mediterranean climate.  

THE READY FOR WILDFIRE MOBILE APP IS NOW AVAILABLE!

FIRESafe MARIN loves the new "Ready for Wildfire" app, published by our partners at CAL FIRE.  Available for iOS and Android, this app is a great tool for any California resident concerned about wildfires.

DOWNLOAD HERE
  

Features include:

Checklists with steps for:

Wildfire Preparedness Week is May 1-7, 2017.  Follow our daily updates for an easy, step by step guide to protecting your home!

This week, FIRESafe MARIN will provide a simple, 7 day guide to improving your home and family's wildfire preparedness with simple, easy, inexpensive tips.

Day 3: Expand Your Defensible Space

Defensible space is essential to improve your home’s chance of surviving a wildfire. It’s the buffer you create between a building on your property and the grass, trees, shrubs, or any wildland area that surround it.  This space is needed to slow or stop the spread of wildfire and it protects your home from catching fire – either from direct flame contact or radiant heat.  Defensible space is also important for the protection of the firefighters defending your home, and it's required by law!

Creating an area of defensible space does not mean you need a ring of bare dirt around your home.  It does not mean you need to remove all of the trees on your property.  It does, however require some planning and upkeep.  With proper planning, you can have both a beautiful drought resistant, low water landscape and a fire safe home.

The defensible space concept is simple: that trees should be limbed up, spaced out, and kept further from your house; shrubs can be closer, but should be kept low and spaced; bedding plants and lawns may be nearest the house.  The use of "hardscaping" like retaining walls, pathways, and clean space near the home will beautify your property and add the finishing touch on a well planned defensible space.

FIRESafe MARIN offers a variety of programs to assist Marin residents, homeowners, landowners, business owners, and stakeholders assistance and information related to wildfire prevention and preparedness.  

We offer community assistance through our Chipper Program, and work with fire and land management agencies managing grants and private funds to conduct hazardous vegetation removal projects throughout Marin.  In 2015, FIRESafe MARIN worked with PG&E and Marin County Fire Department to install a state-of-the-art Wildfire Detection Camera System.  In 2016, we again partnered with Marin County Fire Department and Cal Fire to complete a Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP).

Wildfire Preparedness Week is May 1-7, 2017.  Follow our daily updates for an easy, step by step guide to protecting your home!

This week, FIRESafe MARIN will provide a simple, 7 day guide to improving your home and family's wildfire preparedness with simple, easy, inexpensive tips.

Day 2: Cut Your Grass!

Marin's grasslands provide the fuel for our most frequent and fast moving wildfires.  Dry grass is particularly susceptible to ignition -  carelessly dropped cigarettes, illegal fireworks, mower blades, and hot car mufflers frequently ignite grass fires.  These fast-moving fires damage and destroy homes every year in California and Marin, often in the first few minutes of a wildfire before firefighters arrive.

Chipper Days: May 5 & 6 (DROP-OFF ONLY)

Sleepy Hollow Fire Protection District, with Ross Valley Fire Department and FIRESafe MARIN will conduct four chipper days in 2017!   The first will be a DROP-OFF chipper day this Friday and Saturday, May 5 & 6, 2017.   Sleepy Hollow residents can clean up their property to create defensible space and bring us your cut material - we'll dispose of the vegetation at no cost to you!  This service is available to Sleepy Hollow residents only.

2017 Sleepy Hollow Chipper Day Schedule

For questions about the chipping service, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Wildfire Preparedness Week is May 1-7, 2017.  Follow our daily updates for an easy, step by step guide to protecting your home!

This week, FIRESafe MARIN will provide a simple, 7 day guide to improving your home and family's wildfire preparedness with simple, easy, inexpensive tips.

Day 1: Clean Your Roof and Rain Gutters!

The single most effective step you can take to protect your home TODAY is to clean all leaves, needles, and debris from your roof and rain gutters!  The most vulnerable part of your home is typically the roof.  Although Class "A" roof construction, required in most Marin jurisdictions for nearly 20 years, is more resistant to fire, even a small handful of leaves or needles can ignite your "fire resistant" roofing.  Fire inspectors find that most homeowners do not properly maintain their roofs, leaving Marin's neighborhoods vulnerable to wildfires.