NEED TO GO SOMEWHERE WITH WILDFIRES ALL AROUND YOU !!!
FOR STATE WIDE EVACUATION ROUTES and ROAD CLOSURES CALL:
1 - 800 - GAS ROAD or numerically 1 - 800 - 427 - 7623
To Check Your Electric Power Status
for PGE PSPS Events Click Here

Learn About the Mendocino County Prescribed Burn
Association (MCPBA) and think about how we can get
rid of the HUGE FUEL LOAD in Jughandle State Forest
at the end of Mitchell Creek Road. (See above Photo)

Animal Evacuation Center

YOU OWE IT TO YOUR PETS TO HAVE A PLAN AND KEEP THEM SAFE

Find out about our neighborhood fire safety opportunities - ask questions - receive answers. You deserve it - its the lives of your loved ones (people & pets) and your property that is at risk. No one should tolerate being bullied or marginalized by anyone!!!

GET INVOLVED - Much Groundwork has been accomplished in the past year. The 2020 Wildfire Season is upon us and it is a time for ACTION and COMPLETION. Fort Bragg South FSC needs a action Oriented Group of 10 Fresh Solution Oriented Volunteers to Assist the Current Members of the Fort Bragg South Fire Safe Council for Weekly Meetings and Initiating Projects including GRANT WRITING - ACQUISITIONS, Emergency Exits and Evacuations from neighbors escaping down Simpson Lane, Mitchell Creek and Franklin Road to safe staging areas, EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION with Ham Radios and Walkie Talkies, Fuel Load Reduction and Chipper Days, a New and Excellent Built Out Website, FUND RAISING, and Networking Resources, Information and Ideas with other Fire Safe Councils. Utilizing ZOOM we can host weekly - even daily check - ins and meetings with our neighbors and cover all of the above. A model Fire Safe CounciL we can learn from is Sherwood Firewise Fire Safe Council at https://www.sherwoodfirewise.org/ in Willits at Brooktrails. They received a grant for $447,000 BECAUSE THEY APPLIED FOR IT !!!, while others turned the opportunity down. They also have a excellent website, great communication among members, and have begun work on a safety perimeter around the whole Brooktrails Neighborhood. Let LOVE be our reason and REMEMBER - ACTION ACTION ACTION !!!

HERE IS THE SCOOP
ON THE COMMUNITY CHIPPER PROGRAM

UPDATE JULY 1, 2021,
Welcome to the Mendocino County Fire Safe Councils (MCFSC) 2021 Community Chipper Day Program. A Chipper Day is when the MCFSC, individual(s) or a neighborhood group organizes multiple homes or properties in the same area to do defensible space and/or roadside clearing projects and we arrange to have a chipper crew come chip all of the limbs and brush and either scatter or haul it away, which significantly reduces the cost and labor involved in making your neighborhood and home safer in the event of a wildfire.

Currently (as of 1 July 2021) the MCFSC has funding from PG&E for a number of chipper days around Mendocino County. Also, in August of 2021 the MCFSC received $650,000 from Mendocino County that will enable them to organize a number of chipper days throughout the county. That will start with a chipper day in Hopland (in thanks to the Hopland Fire Department that has graciously stored the chipper) A team of four from the Hopland Rancheria with equipment and the chipper will be doing Fuel Load Reduction and defensible space clearance around homes of senior or disabled citizens who require help. If you are interested in having a the team come to your home with the chipper please contact the MCFSC at firesafe@pacific.net.

HERE IS THE NEW VEMEER BC1000XL CHIPPER THE MENDOCINO COUNTY FIRE SAFE COUNCIL HAS PURCHASED It is capable of chipping tree trunks of up to 12 inches in diameter.

For a bit more of an orientation check out this video from the Vemeer Company on the BC1000XL.

THERE IS A NEED FOR AT LEAST TWO NEW NEIGHBORHOOD CONTRACTOR / FUEL LOAD REDUCTION TEAMS WHO LIVE IN THE FORT BRAGG SOUTH FSC REGION (See above MAP) FOR ONGOING GRANT WORK

If you are a tree service or contractor with fuel load reduction experience and equipment including a truck capable of towing a large chipper, have a 500 gallon water tank on a truck or trailer, a million dollar liability insurance policy, 2 person traffic crew, and experienced chain saw and chipper operators; then you may want to apply for Fire Safe Council Grant Opportunities. Download this PDF Request For Proposal (ROP) file and Apply - ACTION, ACTION, ACTION !!!

If you are interested in scheduling a
Chipper Day for your neighborhood here are the steps:

It should be noted that this CHIPPER PROGRAM is Mendocino County wide; however this website focuses on FORT BRAGG SOUTH (See Map Link Above) and particularly SIMPSON LANE, where there is currently only "ONE WAY IN - ONE WAY OUT" - a heavily populated rural neighborhood with the potential for a WILDFIRE DISASTER such as what happened in Paradise, California where 85 people died and the town and the economy were destroyed. Let us cooperate and collaborate to prevent this. Let our motto be "not one hair singed".

WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM THE
NEW DOCUMENTARY FILM: REBUILDING PARADISE

TO CONTACT NEIGHBORHOOD ORGANIZERS YOU CAN CALL or EMAIL:
Anna Garza at annaleagarza@gmail.com for the Simpson Lane - Mitchell Creek Road area or
Robert W. Matson for the Turner Road area of Fort Bragg at Voice 707-522-0550,
Cell 707-813-1206, Email: Robert@northofsf.com
Other neighborhood organizers can be listed here if they contact the Webmaster Robert W. Matson at Robert@northofsf.com

TO CONTACT SCOTT CROTTY or HIS ASSISTANT BOBBI at the
Mendocino County Fire Safe Council you can call or write:

15 MAY 2020 UPDATE FROM ANNA GARZA

GIBNEY LANE UPDATE : from Alex Leonard / Battalion Chief / CAL FIRE
Work has been happening on the emergency ingress road over the last couple of weeks, but is slow going due to training requirements of bringing on our Firefighters for the summer and road conditions. We have started working off of the Gibney side now working towards Mitchell Creek, however the road is still too muddy to get a chipper in there so all of the brush that has been cleared is in the middle of the road. Once we get things completed on that side, we will need to go back to the Mitchell Creek side for maintenance. The goal is to be completed as soon as possible, but it is all dependent on weather, incident activity and possible budget constraints due to the pandemic. With that being stated, it's still my direction to have personnel on the project 3 times a week as much as possible. We have our second round of hiring next week so nothing will happen, however, that means Woodlands Station will be open and that Engine Company will then be able to assist.

PEARL DR: Update from Fort Bragg South FSC Member Anna Garza
From last fall/winter where we left off was a walking tour in November of Pearl Dr with a small group of us, one of the property owners along Pearl Dr, Supervisor Gjerde, and Fire Chief Orsi to review the driveway and what might be needed to create secured emergency ingress/egress there. At that time we agreed that it might be possible to remove the existing gate and berm and ask the County to install a new forest service quality gate with signage near the old one but not one the same spot. We would hopefully have agreement with the Pearl Dr property owners who have mutual easement on that portion of our proposed emergency access driveway.

Our next step for everyone's assurance was to ask the County to draft an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) for signature by those property owners and the County. We have seen a similar one being worked on for the BrooksTrails FSC. There was a conference call in December with County council regarding this and other fire safety issues countywide, not just Mitchell Crk. I have tried to track if this MOU  is happening with the County, or if not, what else should we do instead. To date I don't believe we have any movement on this. Of course, we had the winter months when everyone relaxes, then March - a pandemic, and now we have high priorities that are taking precedent. If any of us hears news on this front, please share out with the FSC. (if you send me a note, I have the list serve and can share out.)

GRANTS: Update from Fort Bragg South FSC Member Anna Garza
There are lots, and lots of grants for fire safety from all sorts of entities. The problem is finding one that has as it's funding purposes, our needs. When we did the risk assessment with the group (approx. 70 attended, 23 assessments submitted to us) that attended our program at Caspar Com Center last April the top needs identified by those individuals or families were 1.) fuel reduction but also 2.) emergency access & maintenance of emergency routes. I have a small amount of time that I can put toward this so I hope others would be involved. I am concerned about going for a grant and getting neighbors buy-in as well as if we were to get funded, who will administer the grant and track and document Match, which will surely be attached to any funds we might receive. So it's up to you or other neighbors - do we want to continue to pursue this? You can be thinking about that - in the meantime I will try to get more info and then we can all decide if we want to go forward, and how do we do that.

I believe the California FSC grants application is due in June or July for a funding cycle of 2020-21. When Diana and I attended that workshop last spring we learned we would need to submit a project summary to the Mendocino County FSC to submit and also act as fiscal agent. I will check into that next week, let you all know what I find out, but again, I would not go forward without your approval and involvement.

In the little bit of grants searching we've done we found that CAL FIRE has Local Fire Prevention grants. These might be more in line with our goals from the risk assessments. They just awarded 55 grants grants statewide in March so I'm guessing the next grant cycle won't be for awhile yet. But, I can check on that and send you that info as well.

Hope you are all well and not too stir crazy. As I talk with friends and family in other parts of the county I realize how fortunate we are to live in this beautiful place. It helps keep up morale.

HERE IS A UPDATE
OF FortBraggSouth FSC PROGRESS AS OF AUGUST 5, 2019

Some of you or other neighbors have asked how things are going on our access road issues and the grant seeking process. Since we last met on June 19 it has been slow progress, partly because I think some of us have been traveling, vacations, house guests, and just needed a break. I know I have been busy with all of those and so has Michelle. I’m sending out this post to the FSC as an update; please feel free to share with other neighbors.

EMERGENCY ACCESS: Conversations are happening with the Pearl Dr. property owners. This is taking time, especially as the largest property owner does not live in this area so contact is not easy. But I know that Supervisor Gjerde has had conversations with that property owner in the last two weeks. We are seeking agreement to go forward from all with easement on the portion of road to be gated and improved. Also, back and forth conversation is happening at the County offices to better clarify details of the roadwork and how it will be accomplished. I know this is all slow going but I think progress is being made given that until this spring we didn't even know Who those property owners were and no one was talking to each other. Now we are talking.(Note from webmaster Robert W. Matson - A meeting between Fort Bragg Fire Chief Steve Orsi, Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Alman and Pearl Drive property owners Scott Zeramby (Dirt Cheap Nursery owner) and Brian Choi (owner of the property where the berm is) has initiated some progress in opening up an evacuation route through Canyon Drive. However, the road would only be usable to emergency vehicles and fire trucks unless a life threatening wildfire emergency would occur - then the general public.)

UPDATE ON MITCHELL CREEK - GIBNEY LANE EMERGENCY EVACUATION ROUTE: from CalFire Chief Alex Leonard: "The CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) Review for the Gibney Lane project was approved, are currently working with JDSF Foresters on when we are able to start the project. They are thinking either later this month or September (2019) with all of the projects that they have going on. We will need at least one Forester on the project for the first week or two.

GRANTS: Diana Hershey and I were able to get copies of successful grants submitted by the Mendocino County FSC so now we have examples of what other neighborhoods are doing. I will admit that the Risk Assessments we collected on June 19 are still sitting on my desk, waiting to be compiled. I should be able to get back to work on this in the next week. Once I have results I can share that with you and also the neighbors who completed those assessments. Diana and I plan to write a "project description" of what we'd seek in a grant application - we will send that to Imil and Meghan at the County FSC, and then we'll be in the loop for future applications. At some point we will need to meet again as a neighborhood to further define what work the neighborhood would want to do for grant funding and how we would accomplish that.

Alongside this activity, we still need to begin attending the leadership meetings of the MCFSC in Ukiah, networking with other neighborhoods, etc. This will be ongoing. Any of you interested should feel free to attend those meetings and become members of the MCFSC.

COMMUNICATION:  in progress to establish a messaging system for the FSC and also the group that completed the Risk Assessment on June 19. This would be a good avenue for reporting out any developments. The NRZ website has been taken down but I still have the Google account of all those signed up at "Get Updates" from that NRZ site - so I hope to use those emails to connect with the neighborhood on FSC issues. (Note from webmaster Robert W. Matson - for the time being this website www.firesafefortbraggsouth.com can provide updates and progress reports to the neighborhood.)

All this to say, not much FSC activity in the last month and half - unless some of you have other reports? But a small committee has kept things moving forward and will continue to track our emergency access issue. If there is more to report, we will. Hope you are all having a good summer - and working on fuel reduction.

Here is a recap of Q&A from the June 19th Meeting in Caspar

You list a number of questions, some of which will be addressed on Wednesday (grants). I am going to attempt to answer the questions that I'm able to. The rest of your questions should be addressed to other organizations. So there will be no need for you to ask these on Weds; we already have a very full agenda to accomplish. I am sharing a copy of this email with the Council members in case anyone else has other input to share with you or can provide answers to your questions. Anna Garza

1. Answer: We did not miss this deadline. Rather, our neighborhood is just beginning to learn about available fire safe grants. From what we've learned so far, we are not yet prepared to put forward a reasonable and representative project description of the fire safe needs in our neighborhood. We have not done the FIRST thing these grant applications require - a needs assessment. Diana Hershey and I attended a grants workshop on May 22 in Ukiah, which we had only learned about just a few days before that. We rearranged our own calendars, this is all volunteer time on our part, to travel to Ukiah and spend the entire day in this workshop. The workshop was presented by the California Fire Safe Council for only the grants they administer. And yes, the upcoming deadline for that grant cycle was just two weeks out from May 22, a deadline of June 5. All the other workshop attendees have been working at this for much, much longer than us and they have their neighborhood needs assessment prepared. We plan to begin that at our meeting on June 19. Grant applications happen all the time, year round, by different funding entities and when our needs and a grants criteria match up, we will be ready to submit. Diana will cover more of how this happens on June you will receive more information at that point.

2. Answer: YES - take your pick. There are lots of these, many funding entities. But again, any application we make as an FSC should represent the majority needs of this neighborhood.

3. Answer: They do. The Mendocino Co. FSC has also just received grant funding to purchase a chipper. They have plans to do more of this and develop some self-sufficiency in this area. You would need to direct these questions to them. I do not think any of our Council members know what the plans and activities of the County FSC entail. We can tell you that the grants workshop presenter on May 22 from the California FSC stated that they are reluctant to fund FSCs to purchase chippers. This criteria comes from their funder, the US Forest Service. It appears there is a preference for most of these grants to hire chipping out to professionals, thereby avoiding the heavy liability, technical training, and insurance.

4. Answer: See response above - this is what we've found so far. You can also do your own research. I can tell you that finding a grants writer with time to dedicate, and not charge you, will be most difficult. There aren't many of these folks around. When we put out a call to the Council for any grants writing experience, Diana was the only one who stepped up; she was a grants writer for a large part of her career. This is a very rare and unique skill set, not to mention extremely time consuming. So I'd say we're fortunate to have found one person in our midst to advise and help us.

5. Answer: I’m not sure what your question or inference is here. However I can share that of the two horse owners on Mitchell Creek I know, my family included, some time ago we checked with CAL FIRE regarding best planning for our horses in case of wildfire. We have plans in place for the horses per expert advice. I can assure you, we care for our large animals, have significant experience caring for them, and do not need 'advice' from those without experience with horses.

6. Answer: You will need to have conversations with those environmental organizations. I don't think any of the FSC know about this.

7. Answer: I don't know what you are referencing here? or that this is in fact taking place. But again, it sounds like you will need to identify those environmental organizations and "clicks" and then speak to them. In the short time our FSC has gotten involved in grant seeking, two months, I have not seen any announcements of fire safe grants awards to entities here on the coast. I don't believe we have this information.

8. Answer: You brought this  question up at our May 1 FSC meeting. I responded that I felt fuel reduction will work best if each of us tends to our own property. The group seemed to agree with that value. The risk assessment we have planned to complete on June 19 will assist neighbors to take a fire safety view of their land. But I hope that we all have a value that helps us respect each other as well as our individual properties. There is plenty of work I'm sure to be done on each of our lands before we start looking over the fence to see what others 'should' do. I believe you will hear this also from our CAL FIRE rep, focus on making your own home as defensible as possible - that is your best strategy.

9. Answer: Hopefully with the risk assessment we complete on June 19 we can begin to get a better picture of what the neighborhood priorities are for fire safety. Diana and I will compile the assessments that get turned in and from that we can write our projects description. That result would need to be shared with our FSC.

10. Answer: Who knows. Is this a fire safety issue?

For every action - there is an equal and opposite reaction - have a question or comment? Email this website at FireSafeFBS@northofsf.com

Preparation SAVED a home in the Paradise Camp Fire: Defensible Perimeter, Generator & Sprinkler VIEW THIS ACTION ORIENTED HOME OWNER

From the Motion Picture: Only the Brave (2017) - The Sacrifice of American Heroes Scene (8/10) BASED ON A TRUE WILDFIRE STORY Watch this segment from the Movie Only the Brave about the Granite Mountain Hotshots; then look at the photo above and note the fuel load build up in the Pygmy Forest off Mitchell Creek Road, 4 miles from downtown Fort Bragg, California and ask yourself, What can I do in the next 30 days to protect my loved ones?

The purpose of this website is to advertise and promote solution oriented businesses and organizations engaged in protecting the precious wildlife in our forests, enhancing property value, lowering fire insurance rates, and protecting ourselves and our loved ones. This website is sponsored by the Mom and Pop Businesses on www.northofsf.com MEMBER: Fort Bragg South FSC and Mendocino County FSC.
Other Fire Safe Councils: Black Bart FSC, Caspar FSC,
Cobb FSC, Hills Ranch FSC, Pine Mountain FSC,
Sonoma County FSC and in Middletown the South Lake FSC.
CONTACT WEBMASTER:
Robert W. Matson, P.O. Box 150, Fort Bragg, CA. 95437
Cell (707) 813-1206 Voice Mail (707) 522-0550
www.firesafefortbraggsouth.com Robert@northofsf.com