Fire prevention initiatives are ramping up across the county thanks to the efforts of the newly formed Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority. In most towns on the coast, residents can expect to be visited by a team of defensible space inspectors over the next couple of months, following a series of opportunities to chip woody debris.
The new agency, funded by a 10-year parcel tax approved in March and projected to bring in $19.3 million annually, won’t see the first installment of funding until December. Eager to make headway during this fire season, however, the 17-member board that governs the authority has approved a budget through next June.
For the remainder of 2020 until the tax monies kick in, the authority is allowed to borrow up to $4 million from the county’s investment pool, and in some cases, individual districts are fronting funds to get initiatives off the ground now.
The authority projects spending $10.8 million over the next year, and leaving the remaining projected $8.5 million in a reserve. Around a third of the approved budget will be allocated to a series of countywide initiatives, including for education, and the remaining funds will be distributed to jurisdictions for the creation of defensible space and local vegetation clearing projects.
“This isn’t just a bureaucracy they are creating; this money is targeted,” said Jordan Reeser, a fire captain for Marin County Fire who worked as the fire chief in the seashore for 25 years. “Being a government employee for so long, [the authority] is refreshing, with defined objectives and clear goals, and we’re under pressure, too, to make this work.”
In June, a team of 18 seasonal defensible space inspectors was formed thanks to resources contributed by Marin County Fire, the Kentfield Fire Protection District, and several towns and cities in central Marin. They completed over 5,000 inspections, averaging 150 to 200 evaluations a day. This week, they started visiting homes in the San Geronimo Valley, and by the end of this month plan to visit Inverness and Point Reyes Station; in September, they will go to Bolinas and Stinson Beach.
The other coastal towns, which fall under the jurisdiction of Marin County Fire, will not be visited by inspectors this summer, but will be before the next fire season.
So far, Mr. Reeser estimated that 70 percent of the homes inspected over the hill were not up to code, and around 25 properties presented hazards significant enough to warrant the involvement of local fire marshals. None have been fined, as education is the focus of the inspections.
The county has distinct guidelines for clearing different types of vegetation from around homes. Vegetation classified as particularly hazardous, including grasses and weeds, juniper and cypress, bamboo, broom and brush species, should be removed within 30 feet of structures and 10 feet of roads. Within 30 feet of a home or else to a property line, ground cover and shrubs should be removed or separated. Leaves and other dead vegetation must be cleared from roofs, gutters, porches and stairways; branches must be taken down within 10 feet of chimneys; and wood piles must be set back from a home and placed on bare ground.
On larger properties, annual grasses and forbs within 100 feet from structures must be cut down to a maximum height of 4 inches, and dead and dying woody surface fuels—fallen needles, twigs, bark—can accumulate no more than 3 inches in height. Further guidelines from Fire Safe Marin for ideal spacing between trees can be found on the group’s website.
Though not required, the inspectors recommend covering all vent openings with metal mesh, removing all combustible materials—including patio accessories and furniture, garbage containers, lumber and natural fiber doormats—from within five feet of the home and using ignition-resistant or noncombustible fence materials.
The county is conducting outreach in neighborhoods before inspectors arrive, and then knocking on doors. Mr. Reeser said for the most part, people have been happy for the advice.
“We want to help people to learn how to protect their homes,” he said. “That’s what this is all about.”
Before last year, most fire agencies in Marin only conducted inspections upon request. In 2019, Marin County Fire experimented with a seasonal team that visited homes in eastern Marin and some in the San Geronimo Valley, Stinson and Bolinas. The upcoming inspections will cover different homes, with the goal of visiting each home every three years, though inspectors may also experiment with return visits to encourage compliance.
For each member of the wildfire authority, 20 percent of the total tax revenue will go to defensible space, and another 20 percent to local projects. The small fire districts on the coast are projected to receive the least amount of funds, as projected from tax revenues. Twenty percent amounts to $5,953 for the Muir Beach Community Services District, $19,953 for Inverness, $23,457 for Bolinas, and $26,242 for Stinson Beach. Adding significantly to resources on the coast, Marin County Fire will have $320,346.
Local projects can include clearing vegetation along roads to improve evacuation routes, creating fuel breaks and trimming vegetation. As the first of their local projects, the fire districts in Stinson Beach, Bolinas and Inverness have targeted individual homes, hiring contractors to chip debris on anyone’s property who signs up. For most of them, that’s a new offering.
Kenny Stevens, the Stinson Beach fire chief, said it costs the district $2,000 a day to pay contractors to visit properties and chip debris. After three days this summer, Stinson chipped 190 yards.
In Bolinas, there have been four chipper days this summer, and Inverness will hold one tomorrow, though that’s an annual event in the town. All of these districts, as well as the Muir Beach Community Services District, are scheduled to have a chipper day this month or next orchestrated in collaboration with Fire Safe Marin. That organization is also offering this month chipper days in Nicasio and Paradise Ranch Estates, which are designated Firewise communities. Fire Safe Marin is organizing chipper days for all of the county’s 70 designated Firewise communities, a national program that provides resources to homeowners who have to form a board and an action plan and pay a yearly $25 fee.
No chipper days have been offered for the coastal towns that fall within Marin County Fire’s jurisdiction, including Olema, Point Reyes Station, Marshall, Tomales and Dillon Beach.
Rich Shortall, the executive coordinator of Fire Safe Marin, said they did their best with the short timeframe this summer. He also encouraged other West Marin communities to become Firewise.
The main objective of the Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority was to develop and implement a comprehensive wildfire prevention and emergency preparedness plan that includes vegetation management, wildfire detection and evacuation improvements, public education, defensible space evaluations, and local wildfire prevention mitigation. The budget through next June touches on each of these categories.
In addition to the funds that go to individual districts, the members of the authority combine the rest of their funds for countywide projects. Other allocations for the budget include $2,255,000 toward several initiatives that will be managed by Fire Safe Marin, including the chipper days and public education campaign, new NOAA weather radios for emergency alerting and red flag signage. Other funds will also go toward environmental compliance evaluations necessary to complete some projects for the following year, and an evacuation study.