Sherman R. Frederick
Marinscope
When it comes to devastating wildfires, Marin’s been lucky. Very lucky. But that good fortune could change with one little spark in the wrong place and the wrong time.
That knowledge is what keeps Marin firefighters up at night. Consider this story in the San Francisco Chronicle about a careless cigarette that sparked a fire on Mount Tamalpais, terrain that hasn’t burned since 1945.
Although the fire was not widely reported in Marin, the story is a reminder of how close Marin is from a major fire disaster.
Fairfax resident Peter Anderson was hiking in the area when he heard a call for help. A man was lying on the ground with flames all around him. Anderson managed to get the smoker away from the flame and to the trailhead before the fire “exploded.”
“If any wind had been blowing away from the lake,” Anderson told authorities, “ the fire would have raced 300 feet through a tinder dry meadow.”
It would have spread to the beautiful and remote forested hills and valleys that make Marin a worldwide destination.
Of the 530,000 acres in Marin, only 6,000 has suffered wildfire damage in the last 20 years. That’s a remarkable achievement, Marin fire officials say.
Twenty-seven years ago (1995) just over 12,000 acres were burned near Mount Vision on the Point Reyes Peninsula. The most recent big fire in Marin came in 2020 when 4,900 acres burned along the Point Reyes National Seashore.
In contrast, Sonoma County can’t catch a break. In 2017 the Tubbs Fire burned entire neighborhoods. It killed mostly the elderly and infirm. That was followed by the Kincade fire in 2019 and the Glass and Walbridge fires of 2020.
Further north, the McKinney Fire now rages within a few short miles of the town of Yreka. Four people have died in the blaze. Last week the town of Yreka was evacuated. The McKinney Fire started on July 29 and as of Aug. 2 had burned 57,519 acres with 0% containment, the Record Searchlight reported.
Back in Marin, local fire officials launched a New Website (readymarin.org) to offer a clear and easy approach for anyone in the community to learn more about disaster preparedness. The site focuses on planning and preparation for the many threats Marin County faces everyday including wildfire, earthquakes and flooding.
“Our goal is to make disaster preparedness accessible to everyone, and our new site has resources from how to pack a go-bag, making evacuation plans to signing up for disaster preparedness classes,“ said Elaine Wilkinson, Marin County’s Emergency Preparedness Coordinator.
Ruben Martin, Marin County Fire Chief President added, “Ready Marin is a great resource for residents to learn about disaster preparedness in order to be able to take care of themselves, their families, and their neighbors during and after a disaster”.
One of the issues that worries Marin firefighters is the number of people who have not hardened their residential areas to make it harder for wildfires to spread.
The Southern Marin Fire Protection District has instructions on its website on how to harden your home in the event of a wildfire.
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