The Marin Independent Journal, Novato, Calif.
Marin County Fire Chief Jason Weber is spearheading an effort to increase diversity among the ranks of Marin firefighters.
Weber previewed a program in development that would focus on recruiting people of color and women to become firefighters and supporting them financially while they complete the academic work necessary to qualify during a county budget session last month. He hopes to launch the program by January 2022. Our vision is to institutionalize a community-driven wildfire prevention program that supports underserved, underrepresented and underfunded young adults in and around Marin County, Weber told supervisors. I m pleased to announce today that we have 100% interest in participation from all of the fire agencies in Marin, Weber added. So this won t be just a Marin County Fire Department effort.
Jump to navigation
By 02/03/2021
A new virtual evacuation tool will be available to Marin residents by the time the year’s fire season begins. The Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority, a countywide initiative that kicked off last year funded by a new parcel tax, is collaborating with a San Francisco company to launch a website that can provide residents with minute-by-minute evacuation route recommendations in the event of a fire. The platform will reflect traffic flows and potential fire risk, using real-time satellite information along with historical traffic and population data provided by the Transportation Authority of Marin. The new site, which the company Zonehaven is developing, will be linked to AlertMarin, providing evacuation instructions to anyone who is under an evacuation warning or order and helping emergency personnel direct traffic flows. Zonehaven has implemented similar programs in counties throughout the Bay Area, so Marin’s participation will lead
Marin Wildfire Agency Will Deploy Evacuation App Used in Recent Storms
The Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority will spend $108,000 initially and $72,000 annually to employ an app used during storms this week to evacuate 5,000 people in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
The technology used to evacuate 5,000 people in the Santa Cruz Mountains during the heavy storm this week will soon be put to work in Marin.
A new cloud-based mapping application called Zonehaven, which provides police and fire officials with real-time data on emergency and fire risks as well as population and traffic, delivered evacuation instructions to the residents there as the threat of mudslides loomed in the burn-scarred areas of the CZU Lightning Complex fires.
Jump to navigation
By 01/20/2021
The smoke from the Woodward Fire was still lingering in the air when a group of Inverness residents decided that the village’s immediate needs related to wildfire prevention and water storage would require a new funding source. In a survey launched this month, residents are weighing in on whether they would support a new parcel tax that the Inverness Association hopes to sponsor.
“The biggest driver of this is climate change,” said Jerry Meral, who sits on the association’s board and had the idea for the tax. “Look, we have had almost no rain halfway through January, and that’s true throughout the whole Pacific Southwest, it’s not just Inverness. And so I think we need to be ready to be ready with our water supply and to fight the fires we all know are getting more and more frequent. Now whether the Inverness voters share that view, I guess we will find out.”
Jump to navigation
By 01/06/2021
Choke points would abound in an emergency evacuation of West Marin. In Inverness, the problem is Sir Francis Drake Boulevard. In Bolinas, it’s Mesa and Olema-Bolinas Roads. And for the entire coast, any of the over-the-hill routes through the San Geronimo Valley, past Nicasio or around Mount Tamalpais would become congested if thousands of people were trying to leave at once.
Despite this threat to public safety, nobody in Marin is taking responsibility to plan for evacuation, according to a Marin County Civil Grand Jury report issued last month. The 19-member watchdog group calls on the Transportation Authority of Marin to step up and include evacuation as one of its criteria when planning or funding projects. The grand jury also urges public works departments of cities, towns and the county to prioritize evacuation, and argues that these governing bodies should address evacuation infrastructure needs as they update their general pl