Fitch Mountain defender

The smoke-filled skies earlier this summer obscured the sweeping views enjoyed by Laura Tietz in her home on Healdsburg's Fitch Mountain. But it also prompted her to action.

As hundreds of wildfires cast a pall over the North Coast and the top half of the state, Tietz said to herself: "I'm sitting on levels of a hill. What if fire starts in back of me, or on my land? Am I prepared? The answer was 'no.' "

Those thick, haze-filled days motivated Tietz to begin clearing her three acres of property of overgrown brush and vegetation that can fuel a fire.

It also launched an ambitious effort to organize her immediate neighbors and hundreds of Fitch Mountain residents to do the same, to create so-called defensible space around their houses.

"Fire Free Fitch," as her group is called, quickly gained momentum with a couple of community meetings, the latest of which drew about 100 people. Volunteers came forward to help their surrounding neighbors identify fire hazards and remove or thin problem trees and brush.

Parts of Fitch Mountain have been buzzing with chain saws, along with other parts of Sonoma County where wildfire is a concern.

While it's been a bad year in California for fires, officials say it's made rural property owners much more receptive to the need to clear space around their homes and make them less vulnerable.

In addition to Fitch Mountain, grass-roots efforts to reduce fire dangers are under way in several areas of the west county.

Those include parts of the lower Russian River near Forestville, such as Pocket Canyon and Green Valley Road, said Caerleon Safford, a volunteer firefighter who works with Fire Safe Sonoma, a non-profit group that helps increase awareness of wildland fire issues.

Residents of Cazadero, which was hit by the devastating Creighton Ridge Fire 30 years ago this month, have made strides to develop response and emergency notification systems.

The community approach is much more effective than a fire department sending out mailings or pressuring property owners to mow down hazardous weeds, officials said.

"If you can get your neighborhood groups to band together and share a common goal and look out for one another in a cooperative fashion, it's more effective than the fire department knocking on the door," said Healdsburg Fire Chief Randy Collins.

Partly in the city and partly in the county, the Fitch Mountain area is one of the most densely populated high-fire zones in Sonoma County, with about 900 homes, Collins said.

"One of our greatest concerns here at the Fire Department is if there's a fire up there, it would have the potential to do more damage to the city than any type of fire scenario I could imagine," he said.

Not only is Fitch Mountain heavily forested, it has few roads and most are narrow. That makes it difficult to bring in firetrucks and tough for residents to evacuate in an emergency.

Tietz's mission to motivate other property owners quickly produced results.

Stephen Zellerbach, who lives down the hill from Tietz, said neighbors are clearing more brush and wood as a result of her efforts.

"I've seen a lot of activity around these parts since she started," said Zellerbach, who's lived on Fitch Mountain 17 years.

He just took out three fir trees on his property and is planning to remove three eucalyptus trees, both species that are more prone to burn or produce windblown embers. He also cleared a quarter-acre of overgrown brush.

Lucie Keene, another neighbor, said, "to make it work, it has to be a community effort. We need it for everybody to get involved."

With the help of parcel maps, Tietz is identifying all of the properties on Fitch Mountain, starting with her own McDonough Heights subdivision and adjacent Hasset Lane. She has 10 initial areas with as many as a dozen properties outlined in each. A different contact person is responsible for each area and for helping residents with fire prevention.

Tietz, whose scientist husband died last year, said she has plenty of time to devote to Fire Free Fitch.

"I realized fire is no respecter of property lines," Tietz said, as she pored over a parcel map.

She noted if she doesn't keep her property clear, she could be responsible for fire that travels and burns down her neighbor's house.

It works the other way, too. Her house is vulnerable if her neighbors have too much flammable wood and brush on their land.

"It's a neighborhood situation," she said. "We're only as safe our neighbors are."

She acknowledged it can be time-consuming and costly to hire workers to clean up your property.

"It's pretty expensive. On the other hand, losing your house is pretty expensive," she said.

"It's a very interesting challenge to decide how much you're willing to spend, how much responsibility you feel toward your neighbors," she said.

You can reach Staff Writer Clark Mason at 521-5214 or clark.mason@pressdemocrat.com