Close to Home: Listen to all voices on county fire plan

The catastrophic wildfires that Sonoma County has experienced these past four years have been nothing short of devastating. The harmful impacts to our community, environment and economy have taken a heavy toll on the health and welfare of every Sonoma County resident.

History has shown us that these fires aren’t an aberration. The path of the 2017 Tubbs fire duplicated two other wildfires during the past 100-plus years. The fuel for these wildfires all too quickly returns. The risk to our communities isn’t going away. But we can take our acquired knowledge and implement preventive measures that make forests and woodlands less prone to extreme fires and better protect us for the future.

Historically, we have emphasized fire suppression, which is a critical component of any wildfire plan. We also must commit to improving forest health and vegetation stewardship in a manner that is environmentally sound, as well as hardening homes and properties to make sure our infrastructure is suited for efficient emergency evacuations. We also must commit to public education as it will take behavioral changes to truly make a difference.

The Board of Supervisors’ decisions to move forward with a countywide community wildfire prevention plan and to allocate PG&E settlement money to vegetation management are important initial steps. We are encouraged by the supervisors’ stated intentions to take an integrated approach and consider whether a future ballot measure to aggressively fund an intensive and inclusive wildfire prevention plan should be included in this effort.

In the March 2020 election, the boards of supervisors for Marin and Sonoma counties presented separate wildfire prevention ballot measures to their voters. Marin County’s Measure C passed by 4 percentage points, while Sonoma County’s Measure G failed by less than 2 percentage points.

Measure C was preceded by a civil grand jury’s recommendations for fire agencies and municipalities to coalesce under a countywide joint powers agreement with ongoing funding aimed at reducing the risks of a catastrophic event. Robust communications took place with all the community stakeholders, which ultimately created a system of centralized governance and stakeholder coordination for a new agency, the Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority.

We can learn from our neighbors and create our own wildfire prevention authority. This agency can be funded with revenue sources and expenditure directives written into the next ballot measure. To achieve successful passage, this ballot measure must be created with very transparent input from every stakeholder group in our community. Priorities must be set and fully understood to allow for the passage of the measure and implementation of the new wildfire prevention plan.

Input from our fire agencies, city and county elected officials and staff is essential to achieve success. No less essential is input from our diverse community groups — environmental, health, philanthropy, equity and employers and businesses. If the supervisors’ intent is to present a ballot measure in 2022, meetings with these groups need to begin immediately and proceed transparently. We caution the board not to underestimate the importance of this process and the urgency of their action.

This is all about the well-being of our community, our businesses and our natural and working lands. It is about continuing to strive for a better quality of life. We want a wildfire prevention plan that benefits every resident, our guests and businesses and dramatically raises our confidence that we are less likely to experience a catastrophe. We truly admire our emergency responders who have bravely protected our community. Let’s collaboratively put together a plan that substantially reduces the need for these heroes.

Brian Ling is executive director of the Sonoma County Alliance. Dee Swanhuyser is a board member for Greenbelt Alliance.

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