When I moved to the San Lorenzo Valley in 2018 I fell in love with living in the forest. But then the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex wildfire opened a whole new view of living in the woods. As lucky as I was in only needing to be evacuated instead of rebuilding my home, I've come to believe in the vital agenda of preparing for the next wildfire. While I feel capable of preparing my home and my family, I've come to appreciate how important it is to prepare my community as well. We will all fare better if we improve the evacuation routes and make our properties more defensible for the firefighters - but also if we can know who and how to assist our neighbors before and during the event itself.
Firewise is a program supported by the FireSafe Council of Santa Cruz County to help neighborhoods increase their resilience and ability to deal with wildfires. Just after the CZU fire I tried to organize my neighbors as a Firewise community - but I knew few neighbors and wasn't able to create the team needed to promote the education and cooperation necessary to gain Firewise recognition.
Suddenly this past autumn I discovered that a nearby Firewise group - Forest Lakes Firewise & Safety Association (FLFSA) - had expanded their boundaries of 350 Forest Lakes parcels to include 694 parcels in South Felton west of Hwy 9 between San Lorenzo Ave and Glengarry Rd, which included my neighborhood. I was excited to be joining a group promoting local wildfire and disaster resilience - but I was even more excited for my neighbors who had experienced their insurance getting cancelled, because now they qualified for a discount on the very expensive Cal FAIR Plan alternative insurance.
FLFSA had already taken on an educational and inspirational role throughout the San Lorenzo Valley by sponsoring significant Firewise events. By expanding their service area, FLFSA can support better maintenance of the local alternative evacuation routes - particularly the rarely used ones which many of us living in the woods might not be aware of. Given with the monstrous wildfires that happened recently in Southern California, I am hoping that expanding Firewise boundaries can also expand awareness that no person is an island - and that all of us living in the forest can live safer when we help each other.
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