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Oakland Fire Chief says meeting is planned with EBMUD to discuss city's 3,200 fire hydrants' supply and pressure
Oakland's Fire Chief Damon Covington says many changes made since the 1991 Oakland Hills firestorm are helping to protect the city from the type of fires seen in Los Angeles this past week. He also thanks residents for passing measure MM to add funds for wildfire prevention measures.
OAKLAND, Calif. - Oakland residents and fire officials watching the images of devastation in Los Angeles this past week say it is a reminder of the many changes they have implemented, and the lessons learned from the 1991 Oakland Hills firestorm.
"It came over the crest," Elizabeth Stage said on Monday.
She has lived in the Oakland hills for 40 years, and remembers the Oakland hills fire. She says the flames came within feet of her home.
"The deck, because we didn't manage the vegetation at the time, was singed," Stage said.
Stage is the president of the Oakland Firesafe Council. She says the city and residents have become strong partners in making many changes to make the community more resistant to fires.
"Annually, we are inspected by members of the fire department who come and make sure that we've cleared the brush, we've cleared the overhanging trees," Stage said.
Along with defensible space, she says there are other lessons on how to make homes more resistant.
Stage has replaced her redwood deck with metal railing and fire-resistant materials.
The wood siding on her home is now covered with a special coating.
"It's got a coat of material over the siding that makes it less flammable," Stage said.
She says even small changes such as finer mesh to prevent embers from entering vents, and CalFire-approved, double-paned windows can also make a big difference.
"Windows are rated for their resistance to flying embers," Stage said.
"It really is a collaboration and a partnership with our community to make sure we're a fire-safe city," Oakland Fire Chief Damon Covington said. "The collaboration across our region, as we saw in the Keller Fire, everyone is ready to respond to a major incident no matter where it is in the region. I don't think we had that in 1991."
"We train the same way across the county. We use the same equipment across the county. That's some of the issues that we had that we learned from the 1991 fire," Covington said.
New city council member Zac Unger says the Los Angeles fires highlight the year-round fire danger in California and why Oakland needs to find budget solutions to prevent the temporary fire station closures taking effect this year.
"I was a firefighter until about two weeks ago. I fought the Keller fire a few months ago," Unger said.
"We are a very vulnerable area. We have built deeply into the wildland urban interface and we need to make sure we have the resources both to prevent fires and then also to attack them when they happen," Unger said.
Covington says he also wants to thank Oakland residents for passing Measure MM this past November, which entails a 20-year special tax to help with wildfire safety measures. The chief says it will bring in about $3 million, but the funds won't start until July, so it can't help with the temporary fire houses.
The chief says it will be used as part of the 10-year vegetation management plan, to take down dangerous trees and brush that need to be cleared.