Latest updates --Wildcat Firewise

CHECK HERE FOR ONE OR MORE RECENT UPDATES SENT TO WILDCAT FIREWISE MEMBERS:

Upcoming Events, Fall Chipping Day, Insurance Updates: 7-30-24 & 3 outstanding webinars!

CRUCIAL CHECKLISTS FOR HOME FIRE SAFETY:

FirewiseHowToPrepareYourHomeForWildfires.pdf⁠

⁠

NFPA - Preparing homes for wildfire⁠

⁠

Home Inspection Demonstration/Training Event: Wildcat Firewise will be offering a free event led by Captain Traviss Crumpacker of El Cerrito/Kensington Fire. Similar to an event earlier this year, we will use 3 residents’ homes to identify hazards to make homes safer and a simple checklist to reinforce what we observe and learn. We need a minimum of 15-20 attendees and 3 homeowners to volunteer for a free inspection as part of the educational event. Taking the steps that will be covered may help you avoid insurance cancellation, and possibly save your home and neighborhood. This type of event is more convincing that reading and article! More info and dates to be announced (probably a weekend afternoon in September/October). To participate, put the word INSPECTION in an email title and send to Alan Siegel at

wildcat.firewise@outlook.com⁠

to volunteer your home or if you are interested in attending. Attendance limited. On a personal note, I have attended three of these (in Berkeley, El Cerrito and Kensington) and they were very enlightening and motivating and helped me turn the corner on moving ahead with crucial home hardening and fuel reduction activities at our home.

New Fall Chipping Day for Wildcat Firewise: Cut those branches, shrubs, and trees and get free hauling and chipping! With the approval of Contra Costa County Measure X, we hope to sponsor our 3rd “Chipping Day” this fall. Use this as an opportunity to cut branches, shrubs & small trees for free removal. We need a minimum of 10 homes but can accommodate many more! Details and dates to follow. To sign up use the word CHIPPING and email your request to

wildcat.firewise@outlook.com⁠

to sign up.

Fund Raising for foliage removal in Wildcat Canyon Park, east (behind) all homes on Kensington Court and Road, Leneve and Ivy. The downhill eastern exposure to the Diablo wind and the dense foliage in the park immediately behind these homes, is one of main reasons, the New York Times has called us one of the top 10 most dangerous areas in the country for fire. It is also a major factor in insurance cancellations as companies are taking zoomed in photos from planes to assess risk and cancelling many policies with little justification. Also, in education to our zooms, in-person meetings and maintaining our website, I am working actively to raise funds with regular meetings and communication with Chief Saylors, with Make El Cerrito Firesafe, with Supervisor Gioia, with the EBRPD fuels officials, Measure X officials, PGE fuels teams and others as well as our inspection and evacuation drills and educational events.

I can’t do it alone. Please help Wildcat Firewise and make our neighborhood safer via education, fund raising and lobbying. We have an urgent need for administrative support and active regular participants for committees, events and educating and helping our neighbors. We need volunteers to help with database, fundraising, communication with members, organizing committees and participation in resilience teams that work with fuel reduction, neighbor education, monitoring crucial topics, liaison with fire officials, monitoring El Cerrito and Kensington fire board activities, research for our website, etc. We also need an active board with each member taking on an area of responsibility and meeting as a team briefly about once a month on zoom. Also, I need someone with moderate expertise with Google docs to help with communication, surveys, etc.

Our local fire officials have been amazingly responsive, but they can’t protect us effectively unless we help ourselves. In an extreme emergency they may not be able to get to us in time and we may have difficulty evacuating. Please consider helping with our community education, fund raising, and fuel reduction. Does anyone have weed wrench for broom removal? Unfortunately the goats don’t eat broom! We will also need to restart our volunteer fuels reduction committee in addition to whatever funding we get. Can you help?

CURRENT INFO ON INSURANCE CANCELLATIONS: 7-30-2024

California insurance: Map shows areas hardest hit by non-renewals:

https://apple.news/A9kj7AeWtSOO6TANcjph_tw⁠

⁠

Is this the solution to California's soaring insurance prices due to wildfire risk? Read in Los Angeles Times:

https://apple.news/Ava8hBCyFT2Gq3C-dlmFpYg⁠

The insurance industry will have the ability to use wildfire models when setting rates. These models have made policies hard to get and hard to afford.

Having trouble finding home insurance in California? Try a nontraditional route:

https://apple.news/A5-4rnQLjQ2eA7aRH0ZyK3w⁠

SF Chronicle Guide to Navigating the Insurance Crisis. There is one aspect in finding a new policy that you may not be aware of yet: the difference between an “admitted” (or “licensed” insurer) and non-admitted insurers. “Admitted” insurers are regulated by the California Department of Insurance, which oversees how these companies set their prices and non-renew customers.

ALSO DON’T FORGET 3 SUPERB WEBINARS ON INSURANCE POSTED ON WILDCAT FIREWISE (SEE DIRECTORY)

Want to print your doc?
This is not the way.

Try clicking the ⋯ next to your doc name or using a keyboard shortcut (

CtrlP

) instead.