Rural fire council offering free wildfire risk assessments for property owners
Photo: The LNU Lightning Complex wildfire burns a section of hillside in rural Vacaville. (File photo by Matthew Keys/Solano NewsNet)
A rural coalition of wildfire safety advocates will host a meet-and-greet event this weekend to educate property owners about wildfire prevention measures and to offer them free property risk assessments.
The Pleasants Valley Fire Safe Council will operate a booth during the Morningsun Herb Farm's 25th Annual Open House event, which takes place on Saturday, May 7 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.
The event is taking place during Wildfire Preparedness Week, a statewide initiative that encourages residents to take proactive steps to protect their property and themselves from the danger of wildfires.
“Fire season is already here,” David Stevens, a representative of the Pleasants Valley Fire Safe Council, said in a phone interview with Solano NewsNet on Friday. “We need people involved. It's a grassroots effort, it's a homegrown effort, to get people involved in fire safety in our community.”
The Pleasants Valley Fire Safe Council was established shortly after the LNU Lightning Wildfire that sparked in August 2018. That wildfire tore through rural parts of Vacaville, Fairfield and Winters, destroying hundreds of homes and killing two rural residents.
The council is focused on property owners who live in rural north Solano County between the Interstate 80-Interstate 505 interchange to Putah Creek Road in Winters and between the Napa-Solano County line to Interstate 80 in Vacaville.
Pleasants Valley Fire Safe Council Meet-and-Greet Booth
When: Saturday, May 7 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Where: Morningsun Herb Farm (6137 Pleasants Valley Road, Vacaville)
More information: pvfiresafecouncil@gmail.com, 707-888-5013 or Facebook
The council is going through the process of gaining official recognition; in the meantime, its 220 members are advocating for wildfire-related safety ordinances while educating property owners on proactive measures that can be taken to help protect homes and lives.
“Solano County took a good hit during the LNU Wildfire,” Stevens said. “We want to make sure that doesn't happen again in the future, or we can increase the survivability rate as much as we possibly can.”
Stevens said there are several steps property owners in rural parts of the county can take right now to help abate wildfires, including:
Clearing out dead or dry vegetation that exists within five feet of a home’s perimeter, and replacing that vegetation with concrete, rock landscape or pure mineral turf,
Avoiding fire-prone plants like junipers or cypress that have a high combustibility rating,
Making sure plants that are installed along a home’s perimeter are well-irrigated,
Installing high-visibility address signs with both the street number and the road name displayed in at least four-inch text, so emergency officials know where to go during a fire or other calamity,
Clearing roofs and chimneys of all vegetation, and
Hardening a home’s fence, crawl space, attic and roof to make them less susceptible to external fires.
“We don't expect people to do these things overnight, but we do want them to have a plan, so they can get to it,” Stevens said.
One of the ways home and business owners can develop a wildfire prevention plan is to have a fire risk assessment completed on their property. Stevens said the Pleasants Valley Fire Safe Council will offer information about how rural Solano County owners can have a free wildfire risk assessment completed on their property at their booth this weekend during the Morningsun Herb Farms open house event.
For more information on the meet-and-greet, contact the Pleasants Valley Fire Safe Council by calling 707-888-5013 or by sending an email to pvfiresafecouncil@gmail.com. The organization also communicates with members via Facebook.
The Pleasants Valley Fire Safe Council also holds a monthly meeting at the Cloth Carousel (150 Parker St Suite B, Vacaville), which is broadcast via Zoom for those who cannot attend in person. Their next meeting is scheduled for May 9. For more information on the monthly meetings, email pvfiresafecouncil@gmail.com or visit the group’s Facebook page.
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