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East County News Service
May 9, 2024 (San Diego) – Governor Gavin Newsom has declared May 5-11 as “Wildfire Preparedness Week.” Noting the increasingly challenging wildfire seasons due to climate change, Newsom says his administration has made historic investments to increase forest management and decrease catastrophic wildfire risks, such as buying state-of-the-art firefighting equipment and technology.
Now he’s asking all Californians to take steps to protect their properties by creating defensible space around homes, hardening homes, developing wildfire action plans and teaming up to join Fire Safe Councils and Firewise Communities, which work to regularly assess wildfire risk and prioritize actions to address those risks.
“All of us have an essential role in protecting ourselves, loved ones, and communities from wildfire,” the Governor says. “During Wildfire Preparedness Week, I encourage all Californians to visit ReadyForWildfire.org to learn about steps we can take to prepare for wildfire season and help prevent loss of life and property. Together, we can create a more fire resilient California.” Find tips at https://readyforwildfire.org/.
To stay ready for a wildfire or natural disaster at any time, the California Fire Foundation has just relaunched its Firefighters on Your Side community preparedness program at FirefightersOnYourSide.org to help Californians prepare their homes with defensible space, make a 5-minute evacuation plan, pre-pack essentials, and print a master checklist. .
"Our typical wildfire season used to be July to October, but Californians need to stay prepared year-round," said Brian Rice, Chair of the California Fire Foundation and President of California Professional Firefighters. "Community preparedness and raising funds are critical to our mission to support both residents and our firefighters and their families."
In addition, residents are invited to honor California firefighters with a new limited-edition Memorial Expansion Challenge Coin available to all donors who give a $125 or greater donation to help expand the California Firefighters Memorial, since the wall has no more space to list the names of our fallen firefighters. The coins are numbered 1-10,000 and are available to honor any fire service member, past or present—with an option to have it planted at the Memorial in Capitol Park or receive it as a keepsake. Donate HERE and receive your coin.
To preserve the memories of fallen firefighters, the California Fire Foundation also recently launched its Oral History Project to gather stories from families, friends, and colleagues.
Learn more at CAFireFoundation.org.
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