Frustrated with town officials, Portola Valley residents are asking for the fire district to take more control over approving development, and away from the purview of town staff.
Today's guest is Dr. Kimiko Barrett of Headwaters Economics. Kimi is the Lead Wildfire and Natural Hazard Researcher at Headwaters where she also leads their Community Planning Assistance for Wildfire Program. She grew up in Bozeman, attended Montana State University and earned her Ph.D. in Forestry from the University of Montana.
Since the CZU fires, Cal Fire s San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties division, Cal Fire CZU, as well as other county groups have been working on various projects to protect against wildfires. Woodside and Portola Valley have both stepped up their fuel reduction efforts, said Denise Enea, former Woodside Fire Protection District fire marshal and president of Fire Safe San Mateo County, the organization dedicated to protecting property and the environment for county residents in the wildland/urban interface.
“It s not just going to be more engines, it’s not just going to be more hand crews, it’s not going to just be more vegetation management, it’s not just going to be prescribed burning, it’s going to be more of everything,” explained Jonathan Cox, deputy chief of Cal Fire CZU, during the April Cal Fire talk, speaking about how the county can prevent a catastrophic wildfire.
The Wildland Urban Interface, or WUI, is where forest and homes meet. It’s the fastest growing land use type in the nation, and also where one in three