Wine Country Times

On the weekly segment of Mondays With The Mayor, Santa Rosa Mayor Chris Rogers joined KSRO's Michelle Marques and Assistant Fire Marshall Paul Lowenthal to discuss the Community Wildfire Protection Plan, which was enacted in September of 2020 and will be in effect for five years. 

The plan lines out strategies for fuel management, home hardening and other measures that can be taken to mitigate the risk of wildfires in an area of the country where they are so common. 

Rogers said that one of the biggest impacts on him as a public servant was seeing how fire departments can look at topographical factors to mitigate the risk of fires to communities.

"So one of the things that was really impactful for me as a city council member following the wildfires of 2017 was going down to San Diego and seeing how San Diego Gas & Electric and their local jurisdiction have put together this opportunity to have better topographical mapping and a better understanding of how fire would move to try to advance their safety within their community," he said.

Lowenthal said the focus was set on preparing the community for what they thought was going to be a disaster regarding an earthquake. 

"A lot of efforts, focus, education outreach, mitigation had historically be on the Rogers Creek fault," he said.

While past efforts have been focused on earthquakes, recent times have taught officials in the area that perhaps wildfires are the most pressing danger for the region. 

"After 2017, we knew we had to use the momentum of our community to figure out what to do to prevent this from happening again. Knowing that Santa Rosa does not historically start wildfires, we are usually on the receiving end of large-scale wildfires after looking at about 125 years of history. So with that, we applied for a grant of about $200,000 and were successful in receiving it to develop the Community Wildfire Protection Plan," Lowenthal said.

City officials and organizations are hopeful that having this plan in place will help to prevent disastrous consequences from future wildfires that may come Santa Rosa's way. 

Those that are interested in reading the entire plan that the city has laid out can do so here.