Menlo Park, Atherton spares the name with a high risk of fire

The police and the city officials had concerns that parts of their cities were able to get into high fire threats, in the highly expected publication of the mapping of the state of high fire zones, Menlo Park and Atherton.

This is one reason why the cities of Atherton and Menlo Park together with the Menlo Park Fire Protection District as well as the emergency standing of Atherton and Menlo Park organized a forum for reducing the Wildfire risk on Thursday evening on Thursday evening on Thursday evening. The district offers 90,000 inhabitants in Atherton, Menlo Park, East Palo Alto and parts of the non-legal San Mateo County, emergency and fire protection services.

Mark Lorenzen, head of the Menlo Park Fire Protection District, said that due to the devastating fires in Southern California, it increased awareness of forest fires in South California in January.

“We saw a change in the climate,” he said during the meeting on March 13th in the Holbrook Palmer Park of Atherton. “We saw fire burned all winter. I really hesitate to say that it cannot happen here. “

Ultimately, the cities were not contained in high -fire hazards that were published by Cal Fire at the end of February – saved 12 plots in the Stanford Weekend Acres district. Parts of Woodside and Portola Valley are contained in high or moderate fire hazards on the map. George Rodericks, City Manager of Atherton City, said that the meeting on March 13 is still giving a great opportunity to remind and refresh the residents of fire protection, fire protection, evacuation and general preparation for emergencies such as earthquakes and floods.

What severity degrees of the fire risk tell you

Cal Fire differentiates between “dangers” and “risk” in his cards. The cards measure the danger. Hazard is based on the physical conditions that create a probability and the expected fire behavior over a period of 30 to 50 years without taking into account reduction measures such as hardening, recent running fire or fuel reductions.

The risk is the potential damage that a fire under the existing conditions under the existing conditions, which can correspond to fuel reduction projects, defensive space and fire -resistant building authorities, according to Cal Fire.

The latest fire history in the district of San Mateo County

Before Lorenzen came to Menlo Park Fire in 2022, he was at the Ventura County fire brigade for 31 years, the last 10 of which as fire chief. During his work for Ventura County, Lorenzen led the answers to Thomas Fire 2017 and the Hill and Woolsey 2018 fires.

Lorenzen noticed that it was traumatic for him to watch the youngest forest fires in Southern California based on his earlier work in Ventura. Menlo Park Fire sent his own firefighters and engines south to help with the winter fire fire efforts.

The fire brigade chief found that the peninsula is lucky enough to have no similar winds “as we saw with Czu fire, that does not mean that fire cannot burn here,” he said.

He noticed that the fires he had previously seen in Southern California “not yet burned”.

The 2020 -Czu fires burned over 80,000 acres in the counties Santa Cruz and San Mateo and came near the Portola Valley.

The 2022 Edgewood fire in the area of ​​Emerald Hills in Woodside and Redwood City only burned 20 acres, but led to local evacuation orders and left thousands of residents without power. Four firefighters suffered minor injuries from the fire. The then Fire Fire boss for Woodside Fire Protection District said at the time that the lack of strong winds that accompanied the fire did not spread so quickly.

In 2023, 104 out of 179 residential units of an affordable housing estate in North Fair Oaks were destroyed by a fire. Darning from this fire threatened the houses nearby. The fire brigade faced challenges to find enough water to fight the fire alone, said Lorenzen.

Concern for water resources

During the recent fires in the firefighters in Los Angeles, firefighters fought with empty fire hydrants and a lack of water to fight the fires in general.

The residents of the meeting on March 13th wondered whether a similar situation could take place on the peninsula and whether there are plans to store water for such a fire emergency.

Lorenzen found that hydrants can dry because pumps stop in the event of power outages. When structures such as houses are in flames, water is often wasted because pipes burst and open taps.

Hopefully Lorenzen also noticed that there can be a considerable number of houses with swimming pools with 20,000 to 30,000 gallons in Atherton on which firefighters can depend.

The Menlo Park has two reservoirs that can be attracted to the Sandhill Road area. In 2013, the city elected the Corporation Yard of the city on the 333 Burgess Drive as a location for the first emergency well and completed the construction in 2020.

The city also evaluates three locations for potential emergency drilling in the following locations:

• Will Oak's School Field, 620 Willow Road
• Fire brigade No. 1, 300 Middlefield Road
• Parking of the Stanford Research Institute, 333 Ravenswood Ave.
• St. Patrick's Seminary, 320 Middlefield Road

In addition to the emergency drilling, the city also examines locations for a future underground reservoir in order to increase the reliability of the supply.

Palo Alto has groundwater bores and storage that offer emergency water supply service.

Evacuation plans

The residents asked fire and city officials whether Menlo Park and Atherton had evacuation plans.

Atherton's chief of police, Steve McCulley, said that the city was in discussions with the district about the evacuation plans for emergency evacuation. Atherton currently has no such plans.

Menlo Park hired a coordinator for disaster prevention last year to develop an optimized system to combat emergencies and disasters. The city's security element contains no specific evacuation plans in emergencies.

Preparation tips refresher

Susan Warren, President of Lorenzen and Atherton Disaster and preparation, shared the tips on fire prevention and preparation.

Menlo Fire's staff recommended that you register for Watch Duty, a non -profit organization that draws her attention to in real time over nearby forest fires and fire fighting efforts.

“The app is really valuable,” said Lorenzen. “If you want to see smoke in the area and know what's going on, it will probably be here (Watch Duty) if it is a wildland fire.”

Officials also reminded the residents that emergency go-bags were ready. These bags should include an N95, a portable oxygen canister, protective glasses, work gloves, a two -week supply of water, food and medication and much more.

Occupation recommended to remove dry leaves from gutters and roofs, replace wooden mulch with rock mulch and remove flammable material from lower and top to decks.

Lorenzen noticed that no landscape design is “really fire -resistant” and requires maintenance and pruning. He recommended local and drought -tolerant plants to the residents.

Heather Keller, volunteer coordinator of Menlo Fire, recommended that you keep your car's gas tank at least half or half -charged, know alternative output routes and know how to open the garage door when the power supply fails.

Further information on adaptation can be found at Geteadyatherton.org.

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