"It's worth the risk:" Californians living near wildland fireproof their homes as season returns

Record ID: 1560221

  • Title: "It's worth the risk:" Californians living near wildland fireproof their homes as season returns
  • Date: 1st July 2020
  • Summary: FITCH MOUNTAIN, SONOMA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (JUNE 25, 2020) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) STEVE JOHNSON, FITCH MOUNTAIN RESIDENT, SAYING: "And we sat there on a bluff one evening, beautiful sunset, Mendocino sunset, looking at the fire maps and seeing that the fire map showed our house was gone. It's tough. But it wasn't. Here it is. It's all good. It was tough."
  • Embargoed: 15th July 2020 15:44
  • Keywords: COPE California California wildfires Kincade Fire Sonoma Sonoma County Sonoma wildfires defensible spaces disaster
  • Location: FITCH MOUNTAIN, SONOMA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
  • City: FITCH MOUNTAIN, SONOMA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Disaster/Accidents,Wildfires/Forest Fires
  • Reuters ID: LVA005CKZ9N47
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: As a lifelong conservationist, Steve Johnson knew the risks when he moved onto Fitch Mountain four years ago.
    Located in California's northern Sonoma County, Fitch Mountain sits just east of the town of Healdsburg along the Russian River in the wildland urban interface, areas in which residences either border or are built on land prone to wildfires.
    "You know this is an absolutely beautiful place. It has a river. The river is full of fish both in the winter and during the summer. And so the question is, is it worth the risk to live at a place like this? And I think for us, our answer was it's worth the risk," said Johnson, who had a weekend home there for 11 years before moving there full-time.
    The primary risk is fire season, which is already underway in California and has seen more and larger fires than in 2019 though the acreage burned remains below the 10-year average, according to data from CalFire and the National Interagency Fire Center.
    Fires like last year's Kincade Fire, which burned more than 77,000 acres across Sonoma County, including a ridgeline across the Russian River, and forced the evacuation of Johnson and more than 340 others on Fitch Mountain, serve as a reminder of what's at stake.
    "(It was) Three o'clock in the morning. Neighbors honking their horns. And that's how I knew to get out. There was, we had no internet. We had no phones. We had no power. And so it was grab a flashlight, grab the dog. Get out," said Johnson who had evacuated to the coast in nearby Mendocino County.
    "And we sat there on a bluff one evening, beautiful sunset, Mendocino sunset, looking at the fire maps and seeing that the fire map showed our house was gone. It's tough.
    But it wasn't (gone). Here it is. It's all good. It was tough," he said.
    To be prepared to get out is a constant on Fitch Mountain. With roughly 340 residents living on winding roads at times barely wide enough for more than one vehicle to pass, residents have to be prepared for any emergency.
    That necessity prompted resident Priscilla Abercrombie to start a local Fitch Mountain chapter for COPE, which stands for Citizens Organized to Prepare for Emergencies.
    "The purpose really is neighbor helping neighbor. It's the idea that when something goes awry, it's your neighbor who's probably the most likely person who's going to help you out," Abercrombie said.
    The group collects contact information for area residents, information on whether residents have a disability that may require extra assistance from emergency responders, as well as information about their homes that may be beneficial for firefighters, such as whether there's a water source on the property.
    The group also works with the Sonoma County Fire Prevention & Hazard division to organize community chipper days, during which they encourage homeowners to clear brush and dead tree limbs from their property. On a recent visit, Reuters saw dozens of piles -- some up to 5 feet high and 12 feet long -- lining the streets, awaiting county employees to swing by and turn the branches into dirt, thus minimizing the amount of fuel available for any potential wildfire.
    The vegetation on the mountain is thick and during the hot dry months, it's ready to burn, so COPE prioritizes vegetation management any opportunity it gets.
    Residents also work with Healdsburg Fire Department, which is contracted by Sonoma County to respond to any fire event on Fitch Mountain, for inspections.
    At Johnson's home, Fire Marshal Division Chief Linda Collister recommended that residents start at their home and work their way out, zero to five feet, creating defensible spaces that will protect the home from catching on fire. That includes removing dead plants, weeds and trees, replacing wooden fences with metal fences, moving combustible materials away from the home when evacuating, using tin or metal sheets to prevent any embers from getting underneath a deck, and myriad other duties to mitigate the risks.
    Every bit helps, Collister said. "Creating a space from from the actual wildland in the vegetation away from their homes is crucial because that's the way their home can survive," Collister said.
    Johnson said in recent years he had removed five trees from the property that were too close to the home. Other projects included pulling clumps of arundo, a highly flammable reed invasive in California.
    "My basic feeling is, look, these firefighters come out here, they risk their life to save your house. The least we could do is cut down a couple of bushes," Johnson said.
    (Production: Nathan Frandino)
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