Claremont Canyon Conservancy
Friends of the Montclair RR Trail
Garber Park Stewards
Kensington Neighbors for Wildfire Safety
Kensington Public Safety Council
Make El Cerrito Fire Safe
Montclair Neighborhood Council
North Hills Community Association
Oakland Firesafe Council
Oakland Landscape Committee
Piedmont Pines Neighborhood Assn
Regional Parks Association
South Hills Beat 35Y.
The failure of planning to address the urban interface and intermix fire-hazard problems in the San Francisco Bay Area, by Joe McBride and Jerry Kent
(Article originally appeared in the International Journal of Wildland Fire, January 7, 2019. Reprinted here with permission from the authors.)
(Many recommendations) for fuel mitigation and architectural changes have not been addressed. In spite of the recommendations for fuel management put forth in more than 30 plans since 1923, no region-wide action has taken place. Individual agencies and local Fire Safe Councils have, in part, followed up on recommendations for fuel management on land they administer, but often a complete adoption of recommendations has not taken place. The failure to enact all of the recommendations of these is due to various combinations of the following reasons:
Wildland-urban interface fire prevention: who is in charge? by Jon Kaufman
PG&E’s community wildfire safety program by Robert Sieben, MD
Grizzly Peak and ridge fire potential, by Jerry Kent
Annual Meeting Speaker Robert Doyle, General Manager of the East Bay Regional Park District
Robert Doyle, General Manager East Bay Regional Park District
General Manager Robert Doyle began his park career over 40 years ago as a member of the East Bay Regional Park District’s eucalyptus crews, following the big freeze of 1972. He went on to serve in several eld, planning, and administrative positions before becoming Assistant General Manager for Land Acquisition and Planning in 1990. For the next 21 years he led the District’s expansion of parklands to serve the rapidly growing populations of Alameda and Contra Costa counties. In 2010, he was appointed General Manager by the Park District’s seven-member, elected Board of Directors to oversee 70 regional parks totaling 124,000 acres, 1,200 miles of interconnecting trails, and a staff of 1,000 employees.
Annual Meeting Speaker Ken Pimlott, Director of CAL FIRE
Chief Ken Pimlott was appointed Director of CAL FIRE by Governor Jerry Brown in 2011 after an outstanding, 30-year long career in state re protection programs. As Chief of CAL FIRE and also California’s State Forester, Mr. Pimlott is responsible for 237 fire stations, 39 conservation camps, 12 air attack, and 10 helitack bases.
Report of the Grizzly Peak Fire from Glen Schneider
We had some big excitement last week. Because of the Grizzly Peak Fire on Wednesday afternoon, we had to cancel our workday. We did get back to Skyine on Sunday and almost finished with Scattergrass in the Bay Grove. Perhaps one more good session will finish that off . . .
Botanists tend to love a fire, because the aftermath is so fascinating. Seeds not seen in decades may sprout. In the early days of California botany, when Jepson was at Cal in the early 1900's, he and others found scores of interesting natives on the slopes of Grizzly Peak. Will they return? How will UC manage the burn area (let's hope they do nothing besides remove the Eucs and Pines)?
Tom Klatt writes to Councilmember Susan Wengraf
"I attended the 8/2/2017 fire Oakland Hills fire scene during operations today and observed conditions and took photos. The City of Berkeley Fire responded, as did many other agencies. The fire would have threatened Berkeley, except that the winds were blowing onshore from the ocean. Imagine if the winds were blowing down the canyon (off-shore), as we see during Diablo Wind condition days. The most effective response came from helicopter water drops, taken from lake Anza, by EBRPD, Cal Fire and other attending helicopters. Most of the firefighters stayed on Grizzly Peak, as the hills are too steep and littered with dead eucalyptus and pine fuel."
Daughter fights fire, by Gerry Keenan
August 2-3 Grizzly Fire media archives
Know your neighbors, create defensible space, a disaster plan, insurance, by Sue Piper
"My Word," reprinted from East Bay with permission from Sue Piper.
"Take action like your life and those of your loved ones depend on it. " This is not just to be sure that Oakland residents living in the hills won’t have to flee for their lives when the next firestorm hits — as it surely will, given five years of California drought, the growing numbers of dead and dying trees, and the unusual topography of the Caldecott Tunnel that leads to small fires every year and major wildfires every 20 years.
Homeowners are key to preventing wildfire losses, by Dr. Robert Sieben
It’s Time to Wake Up and Get Real About Wildfire Risk
We are experiencing a perfect storm as record heat, drought, massive numbers of dead trees, and dying forests are leading to the spread of wildfires like we have never seen before throughout the western United States and Canada. Instead of naively thinking your homeowner’s insurance is going to make up for the trauma of losing your home, or that overwhelmed firefighters are going to be able to save it, it’s time you woke up and got real.
FEMA Grants Withdrawn, by L. Tim Wallace
You have probably heard by now that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has withdrawn $3.5 million in wild fire hazard mitigation grants previously awarded to the University of California and the City of Oakland. As a result, both agencies will be postponing much needed vegetation management programs in their parks and open spaces throughout the Oakland Hills, including in Claremont Canyon.
Conservancy supports UC's fire plan addendum, by Jon Kaufman
In response to a request for public comment, the Conservancy has written a detailed, five plus page letter in support of the University's plan to implement its grant from FEMA to make the hills above our homes more fire safe. The plan is extremely detailed and addresses all the concerns that have been raised during the years long federal environmental review process.
Conservancy letter supports UC's fire plan addendum, by Jon Kaufman
In response to a request for public comment, the Conservancy has written a detailed letter in support of the University's plan to implement its grant from FEMA to make the hills above our homes more fire safe. The plan is extremely detailed and addresses all the concerns that have been raised during the years long federal environmental review process
Park District Board accepts $4.65 m FEMA grant, press release from EBRPD
FEMA releases final EIS, by Jon Kaufman
On December 1, FEMA released the Final Environmental Impact Statement that sets conditions that must be followed by the University of California and the City of Oakland and the East Bay Regional Park District as they move forward with eucalyptus removal. The Conservancy has not yet examined the document in detail but here's our initial impression.
April 2014 fire in the canyon, by Joe Engbeck
THE ALARM SOUNDED AT 11:21 am. A fire of unknown size and origin was burning in Claremont Canyon. The cell- phone caller who was first to alert the Oakland Fire Department, reported a lot of smoke in the upper canyon not far from the intersection of Claremont Avenue, Grizzly Peak Boulevard and Fish Ranch Road. It was Tuesday, January 21, 2014—well into the driest winter ever recorded in the East Bay.
Costs for growing large eucalyptus trees will sky-rocket, by Jerry Kent
AGENCY DECISIONS ABOUT GROWING large blue gum eucalyptus trees may be as risky as Frank Havens’ Mahogany Eucalyptus and Land Company of the early 1900s. That enterprise ultimately went belly-up when Havens’ 3,000 acres of eucalyptus trees in the East Bay Hills failed to become a “gold mine,” proving to be unusable for hardwood lumber.
