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As wildfire season approaches, the Santa Clara County FireSafe Council is seeking public input on the first draft of its Community Wildfire Protection Plan. The comment period will remain open through Sunday, July 2.
The 161-page plan is a guiding document for fire and emergency managers and agencies that manage land within Santa Clara County. It focuses on recommendations to reduce the extreme severity or risk of wildland fire and identifies potential priority areas where measures are needed to protect life, property and critical infrastructure from wildfire, according to the FireSafe Council.
The plan examines the risk ratings for each community; evacuation capabilities by community; fire hazard severity; areas of concern; wildfire risk to structures and hazards to critical infrastructure; recommended treatments such as enhancing habitat, prescriptive burns and thinning vegetation; monitoring, creating fire-adapted communities capable of withstanding the most severe fires; and developing the most effective wildfire response.
The urban-wildland interface in Palo Alto, for example, has a high-risk rating due to the density of thick junipers and pines near homes; the heavy-brush wildlands to the south; above-ground power lines; older homes with no requirement for interior sprinklers; single-paned windows prone to breaking in wildfire; and some homes with wood-shake roofs.
But it also has plusses: surfaced roads and adequate width and turnaround, low slope in most areas, some steep sections, grasslands managed every year by the city of Palo Alto, large lots and adequate water supply from hydrants.
In contrast, Stanford has a moderate risk because of lighter fuel loads in its wildland areas, although it also has many of the same concerns, according to the plan's assessment.
Los Altos Hills also has a high risk rating due to a heavy concentration of eucalyptus trees; less than 100 feet of defensible space around most homes; some homes with poor yard maintenance; wood siding, wooden decks and fences that can act as fuses from vegetation to homes; single-lane, narrow roads in some areas; some private roads with poor road maintenance and limited turnaround for fire apparatuses; arrow gates; many old structures with wood shake roofs/siding; heavy fuels adjacent to homes and other hazards.
A website offers users interactive maps and data regarding many of the fire-hazard conditions detailed in the larger protection plan document, such as risk to structures, detailed wildfire hazard map, vegetation map and historical wildfire occurrence from 1950-2022.
Informational links at the bottom of the site detail ways that residents and communities can make their homes and properties fire resistant.
A final public outreach meeting for the Community Wildfire Protection Plan is scheduled on Aug. 30, 6-7:30 p.m. at Los Gatos Lodge, 50 Saratoga-Los Gatos Road, Los Gatos.
