MCFSC celebrates 20th anniversary
The Mendocino County Fire Safe Council (MCFSC) is 20 years old this year. Taking shape in 2003 and registered as a nonprofit in March 2004, MCFSC has responded to recent major wildfires with tremendous growth, activity and creative projects to promote wildfire preparedness and safety throughout Mendocino County.
In 2003, CAL FIRE was planning to close its Ukiah Air Attack Base, and a number of local residents successfully organized to change that plan. Two of these were Colin Wilson, then Anderson Valley fire chief and president of the Mendocino County Fire Chiefs Association, and Julie Rogers, who was the effort's volunteer coordinator and became MCFSC's founding executive director.
According to Chief Wilson, “I had recently worked on the Cedar Fire and was profoundly impacted by the huge losses in both lives and property. That experience made me realize that good prevention work would be of much greater value in saving lives and property than the best fire-suppression response.”
Julie Rogers adds, “Many county residents were completely relying on air tankers and fire engines to save their properties from fire, instead of taking action to prepare and defend their properties. Air tankers, though wonderfully helpful, were not always immediately available, and some remote properties were nearly an hour's drive from the nearest fire station. So, after our success (with CAL FIRE's Ukiah base), I asked Chief Wilson if Mendocino County had a citizen-based wildfire preparedness effort. He responded, `No, but I wish we did.'
“We agreed to stay in touch, went to a two- day Firewise training, at which we learned about the concept of fire safe councils, and began meeting with local fire chiefs toward creating such an organization for Mendocino County. Our first public meeting, in January 2004, garnered contributions of $1,200, which was our operating budget for the next year.”
With community support and involvement, the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in March 2004.
For its first few years, MCFSC operated on a shoestring budget, funded by the Allen-Heath Memorial Foundation and other sources.
Realizing that more significant grants often require a Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP), MCFSC created Mendocino County's first CWPP in 2005. That document was updated in 2015, and the County of Mendocino is currently planning a new update.
The Pine Mountain Fire Safe Council near Willits was Mendocino County's first Neighborhood Fire Safe Council and is now also a certified Firewise Community. They received a significant early grant for chipping, mapping, signage and educational mailings. Lauren Robinson of Pine Ridge FSC/FWC acknowledges CAL FIRE Battalion Chief Mark Tolbert and BLM's Jeff Tunnell as particularly helpful in those days.
The Black Bart, Brooktrails (predecessor to Sherwood Firewise), and Robinson Creek FSCs were other early active groups. However, Robertson notes, “Before the major wildfires in this county began in 2017, there were other directors but little money or impetus for building up a strong MCFSC.”
In 2018, spurred by the October 2017 Redwood Complex Fire and other record- breaking wildfires sweeping through the state, the Mendocino County Resource Conservation District took MCFSC under its wing and took steps to reactivate it. Megan McClure, the MCRCD executive director at the time, began to revive its funding and activities, and Scott Cratty was hired as MCFSC's executive director in January 2020.
Since then, MCFSC has become fully independent and active, gaining solid support from the County of Mendocino, the Community Foundation of Mendocino County, CAL FIRE, the State Coastal Conservancy, the California Fire Safe Council, PG&E, MCFSC members, and other supporters and funders.
The number of its affiliated Neighborhood Fire Safe Councils ( NFSCs) has grown from 18 in 2019 to now over 70; MCFSC's annual budget is in the millions; it is now an employer with a staff of 10, including its own crew and equipment; and its programs continue to be expanded and created.
MCFSC's current programs and activities include: free Community Chipper Days, Home Assessments, Defensible- Space Assistance for income- eligible seniors and persons with disabilities (DSAFIE); custom reflective address signs; Micro- Grants funding small, strategic wildfire- safety projects for NFSCs and fire departments; sponsorship and support of many kinds for its affiliated NFSCs; abundant home-hardening and defensible- space information, including its own series of how-to videos, available on its ever-improving website, along with a list of local contractors, some of whom offer discounts to MCFSC members; targeted mapping projects; project-planning coordination with CAL FIRE, fire chiefs, NFSCs and other groups countywide; commitment to a forest-stewardship approach in its implementation projects; outreach in many forms including new or updated publications and mailings, radio interviews, monthly newsletter, media articles, blog and Facebook posts, booths at community events; educational outreach to junior-high and high-school students, and more.
Twenty years from its founding, in a fast- changing world of environmental and other crises, a revitalized MCFSC continues to grow and strive to improve. Membership and donations to MCFSC (https://firesafemendocino. org/membership- options/) support its ongoing work in support of its mission: “To inform, empower and mobilize county residents to survive and thrive in wildfire-prone environments.”
According to Nancy Armstrong- Frost, president of the Board of Directors, “MCFSC is committed to helping our community through whatever impacts severe weather and climate change may bring. The reinvigoration and growth of the MCFSC over the last five years has been tremendous. Leading our phenomenal staff, Executive Director Scott Cratty has been able to productively expand our programs and activities.”
For more information, to donate and/or contact the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council, visit firesafemendocino.org or email admin@firesafemendocino. org.