What is a Fire Adapted Community?
A Fire Adapted Community is a community that understands its risk and takes action before, during, and after the wildfire for their community to be more resilient to wildfire. Fire adapted community members are informed and prepared, collaboratively planning and taking action to better live with wildland fire.
At its core, the Fire Adapted Communities (or FAC) concept is a framework to help us better coexist with fire. FAC is not a one-size-fits-all approach, a checklist, or a specific set of actions a community must take. FAC is also not an endpoint. Your community is always changing; change is constant in our social and political environments, ecosystems, and economies.
The beauty of FAC as a framework is that communities of all sizes, economies, policies, etc., can take ideas and concepts and adapt them to meet their local needs. This means FAC work is never complete. It is something we will need to steward throughout time.
FAC encourages each community to improve its wildfire resilience using unique steps and strategies because we know our community best! Broadly speaking, the more actions a community takes to improve their wildfire outcomes, the more fire-adapted they become.
FAC is a comprehensive perspective and strategy for safely coexisting with wildland fire. VERG focuses partially or wholly on several key FAC areas: Prevention, Safety and Evacuation, Resident Mitigation, and Partnerships & Community Engagement, which can be seen in the graphic below.
Why is VERG leading the Fire Adapted community movement?
In short, the San Geronimo Valley Emergency Readiness Group (VERG) believes our safety depends on VERG implementing a new “Fire Adapted” framework as a community.
A fire-adapted community acknowledges and takes responsibility for its wildfire risk and implements appropriate actions. It addresses resident safety, homes, neighborhoods, infrastructure, forests, parks, open spaces, and other community assets. Realizing this vision will require extensive action, but how will this transformation take place?
Other communities rely on their town or municipal government to implement FAC or programs and policies similar to the FAC framework. The San Geronimo Valley does not have a government or administrative body to plan and implement this strategy. Marin County is not planning to implement and manage a FAC program, and unless VERG steps forward, residents will be left to act on their own.
Furthermore, we believe that VERG must create and manage fire mitigation programs for the community. Mitigation takes many forms, from neighborhood action to coordinated community-wide programs. These efforts are most effective when supported by education, when well organized, and when funded if necessary.
But creating, managing, and promoting these programs is necessary to achieve the goal of making the Valley safer. Success is dependent on time, effort, and commitment to agreed-upon goals. VERG is willing to embrace this commitment to ensure we become fire-adapted.
For the Valley to become fire-adapted and prepared for wildfire,
VERG will focus on these areas:
- Emergency Response: We are growing our emergency radio network and increasing our emergency supplies and equipment supply.
- Vegetation Management: VERG is organizing neighbors to take action and acting on behalf of residents who are unable to or don’t have the means to mitigate fire risk. Large-scale projects for vegetation management are in the planning stages.
- Support for access and functional needs residents. Aging adults can face a situation where they have no means to receive communication or alerts that are critical to their safety. VERG is conducting a pilot program which creates a communication network that will solve this issue.
- Improve our communication and tools. Incorporate texting in our communication, adding data management capabilities, and the use of digital mapping for neighborhood management will enable us to reach the community in a more timely manner.
- Advocate for Action on Preparedness. The County, Utilities, Public Works, and State and Federal Parks must all fulfill their responsibility to sustain the safety of the Valley. Many areas need vegetation management and are beyond the scale of community-organized efforts. These projects may not be undertaken unless these organizations are pressured to do so. VERG can act as a unified voice for the Valley, motivating these entities to live up to their responsibilities.
We consider these plans and objectives to be essential for the safety of the Valley. At the same time, these projects are a huge undertaking, and the management of them will require significant resources and time.
We are asking for your help with this tremendous undertaking.
Please become a VERG member if you haven’t joined us already.
Please donate your time and skills by joining a VERG Committee. Go to “Join Our Team” to see where and how you can pitch in. Finally, please support VERG, donate today by going here: DONATE