Category Archives: Firewise

Certificate Renewal

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Each year the national Firewise USA organization requires all Firewise Communities to renew their certification status by reporting educational activities, vegetation removal, and risk reduction investment. Although this was just our first year, we provided data way beyond what was required.

 

  1. Samples ofeducational outreach activities:
  • Coordinated community-wide awareness/educational activities to increase wildfire risk reduction actions and overall preparedness with speakers/demonstrations from the South Placer Fire Department, PCWA, Placer County Sheriff’s Office, Office of Emergency Services, and other agencies.
  • Held a fire-resistant plant species workshop for residents with help from our local cooperative extension office.
  • Provided two insurance clinics to residents with the support of the California Department of Insurance. Assisted individual residents facing insurance non-renewal.
  • Organized residents for a volunteer neighborhood work party for a senior neighbor.
  • Placed wildfire-related articles in the community newsletter and website.
  • Conducted individual wildfire risk assessments and advised residents of possible next steps toward home hardening and vegetation management.
  1. Samples ofvegetation removal:
  • Removal of 800+ cubic yards of vegetation, 20 burn piles, and donation of 8-foot logs to a firewood company.
  • Estimated weekly residential removal by homeowners of 77+ cubic yards of excess vegetation.
  1. Ourrisk reduction investmentincluded:
  • Hours Worked: HOA investment of 1857 hours valued at $62,191 plus Resident investment of 1547 hours valued at $51,809. (Firewise USA sets value at $33.49/hour.)
  • Money Spent: HOA investment of $46,180 and Resident investment of $684,393. 

 

Total Investment Required = $5425; Actual Total Investment = $844, 573

Per Lot Investment Required = $33; Actual Per Lot Investment = $5213

 

Our community’s fire safety relies on all of us doing what we can to harden our homes and reduce excess vegetation. Our HOA is doing a great job of vegetation management. What about our residents? This year, only 14 of our 162 lots reported any investment in fire safety. Imagine how huge next year’s residential renewal investment total could be if all of us did the work and reported the investment! Imagine how much safer we would all be!

 

Here are your 14 intrepid reporters: Atkins, Browne, Cantalupo, Ebert, Fleisher, Forslin, Johnson, Kemper, Means, Oversteg, Rodgers, Schwegel, Steele, and Taylor.

 

 

Renewing our Firewise Recognition Certification

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Each Fall, Firewise Communities must renew their status by submitting data on the mitigation activities that have been completed during the current year. Firewise USA, our national organization, needs to know how much time and money we have contributed to reducing wildfire risk both for our own properties and for the HOA’s community property. Thanks to Lyle Innocent, our community property efforts have already been reported and they are awesome!

We need your information for this renewal process and – possibly – for demonstrating to insurance companies that our community has taken significant efforts to reduce the risk for the companies themselves! Less risk àless loss àlower premiums and fewer cancellations. 

Here ‘s what you need to do before the reporting deadlines of November 3 (Digital) and November 17 (Hard Copy):

 

FIRST – Collect the Information Shown on The Attached Work Sheet: 

HOURS WORKED – Guess-timate the amount of time you have spent this year hardening your home (EX: installing 1/8th inch vents, removing flammable materials from near your house) and reducing vegetation (EX: trimming ladder fuels beneath trees, removing plants and mulch to create your Zone Zero). No actual documentation is required. Diane Means will take care of the time you’ve put into your wildfire risk assessment and your attendance at the Firewise monthly meetings.

MONEY SPENT – Take a half hour to go through your records and jot down any money you have spent (EX: hiring contractors to remove trees, removing debris, landscaping, buying rocks to replace mulch in Zone Zero, purchasing or renting equipment such as power saws and hand tools). No actual documentation is required.

Check out the second attached file to see ideas for more time and expense examples.

 

NEXT – Share the Information Using One of Two Strategies: 

  1. Go Digital – use the Placer County online Volunteer Reporting Tool (Deadline-11/3). 

The survey tool is run through ArcGIS Survey123. To access the tool, click on this link: https://survey123.arcgis.com/share/bd81f9c644bf4508a6fbb92640967d2c?portalUrl=https://UCANR.maps.arcgis.com. This survey can be completed on your computer, smartphone, or tablet – you just need access to the Internet. You do not need to create an ESRI account. Just click “Continue without signing in” to access the survey. The survey will take about 5 minutes to complete and consists of mandatory and optional questions. To watch a tutorial about how to use the tool, click on this link: https://youtu.be/iuLhTaCUy9k. Call Diane Means at 650-245-1274 if you have questions.

-or- 

  1. Download and complete the attached Volunteer Work Sheet, scan it if you can, and send it to Diane Means so she and her non-existent staff (!) can enter the data (Deadline-11/17). If you can’t scan, send an email or text to Diane with the numbers from the sheet. She can even come by to pick up the sheet. You can reach Diane at 650-245-1274 or diane.means@icloud.com.

Please help us brag about the outstanding work you have already done to make our Hidden Valley community a safer place for all of us!

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