City of Willits, fire departments were prepared
“We need to know this can happen to us,” said Little Lake Fire Protection District Chief Chris Wilkes, during a press conference held Tuesday, Sept. 15. Wilkes was one of a handful of local agency leaders who got together to share information and give feedback about the Oak Fire that burned a total of 1,100 acres and destroyed 56 structures northwest of the City of Willits. It was 100 percent contained on Sept. 14.
By all accounts, the City of Willits and Brooktrails Township were indeed prepared for such an event as the Oak Fire. Brooktrails Fire Chief Jon Noyer said, “In the two decades I’ve been here, we have trained for this. And, now having done this, we can walk away from this knowing our plan did work… but there’s always room for improvement.” Noyer was the first fire officer on the scene of the Oak Fire when it ignited just after noon on Sept. 7. He immediately started evacuating those closest to the fire, whose cause is still unknown.
Noyer said the Oak Fire was managed by Cal Fire because it originated in an unincorporated area just outside of Brooktrails Township. Cal Fire is therefore responsible for determining what caused the spark, which he said will not happen until Cal Fire is 100 percent positive of the answer. And, although Noyer said he is unaware of any documented fire history in the Brooktrails area, there has not been any fires of more than an acre that he knows of. “A large scale fire has not been through there in over a century so the fuels have been around for a long time.”
City manager Stephanie
Garrabrant-sierra said the City of Willits has been making a conscious effort to prepare for widespread emergency events since the Redwood Complex fire in October 2017 and recent Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS). “Thanks to a lot of people we are safe from the Oak Fire,” she said, adding that the City has put together a “playbook” of the City’s emergency protocols for future reference. “Since the PSPS last year, we are pretty prepared… We work well together and it showed,” said Garrabrant-sierra of the collaboration between City and County entities during the Oak Fire.
As ways to improve the response, Mayor Gerardo Gonzalez said he would like to see the local Community Emergency Response
Team (CERT) get in on the action more, as well as provide more training for City employees. “All government employees are technically disaster service personnel,” said Gonzalez. Chief Noyer said he specifically did not activate the local CERT members because he didn’t think it was wise to try to bring them up to Brooktrails when residents were being evacuated down Sherwood Road. But, he agreed that he also would like to see the CERT program more developed in the near future.
Regarding the August Complex fire, Chief Wilkes said the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) “has a really good handle on what we need to do.” If the fire moves closer to the City of Willits, the public is advised to evacuate based on orders from MCSO, and “go where the Sheriff tells you to go.” Gonzalez said it’s currently a “wait and see” situation and urged residents to make sure they are signed up for Nixle Alerts and listen to the radio.
“We will give direction,” he said.
As for where residents will evacuate if the August Complex fire threatens the City, Chief Noyer said, “It truly depends. What we do is so dynamic that it cannot address every situation.” Garrabrant-sierra agreed and said, “We need to maintain a spirit of being nimble.” Chief Noyer said he is confident that Cal Fire is going to “handle business” and manage the August Fire before it gets too close, and he assured the public that local fire personnel “stand ready to serve” as always.
However, Chiefs Noyer and Wilkes stressed the importance of being prepared, and recommended everyone seek out resources and information immediately. Two useful websites mentioned were readyforwildfire.org and wildlandfiresrsg.org. Chief Noyer said he tells residents that just after a fire is the time to identify any shortcomings experienced during the incident, restock emergency supplies and go-bags, and prepare for the next emergency.
“We are not out of fire season,” said Chief Noyer. “We cannot let our guards down.”