Fired up

By Bill Kisliuk
From the Editor

On a patio with stunning views of downtown Napa, the winding Napa River and Mount Tamalpais off in the distance, neighbors gathered to learn about a major threat to Alta Heights.

Napa Fire Marshal Darren Drake pointed to the map.

The fire might start on First Avenue, downslope and outside of town. In an hour it could chew up a big chunk of oak woodland and send sparks out to create a sizable second hotspot. Unchecked in a few more hours, it could blacken more lovely east Napa scenery and turn homes into torches.

Fires don’t care what they feed on, said Drake. Homes and wooden decks or wildland scrub and trees, if it’s flammable it will become fuel.

Drake’s presentation was part of an effort by a group called Napa County Firewise, which is methodically working to convince Napans to landscape their properties and construct their homes in such a way as to protect them from the blazes that— Drake said with as much cheer as the topic would muster — are all but inevitable in Napa County.

Members of Firewise are going to work in vulnerable areas. This year, they are zeroing in on Alta Heights streets including Montecito Boulevard and Monte Vista Drive, where the terrain around homes is wild, beautiful and where dry grasses edge up to serpentine rock emerging from the soil. They are also going to Soda Canyon and Atlas Peak, site of a scary and destructive blaze in 1981, and the heavily forested Lokoya area of Mount Veeder, which is vulnerable for the opposite reason: It is rich in fire fuel because it has been untouched by fire for so long.

Ever mindful of the sometimes fierce desire of individuals to keep government off their backs and away from their driveways, Firewise supporters are meeting with clusters of neighbors to encourage volunteer action to reduce the risk of fire damage.

The program sends a wood chipper out to dispose of limbs, brush and whatever needs to go to make things safe.

It helps groups of citizens apply for grants — as it did in Circle Oaks — to pay for the machinery and expertise to do it right.

It has helpful literature and then even more helpful literature.

For more information about the program, visit www.napafirewise.org. For more information about how vulnerable you are to fire, walk your property line and look around.

How high is the brush? How dry is the grass?

How flammable is your home exterior?

How much would you lose if you lost everything because you didn’t do what you could to protect yourself?

Napa Valley Register Copyright © 2009