NEVADA CITY, Calif. March 25, 2019 – Today, March 25th at 6:00 p.m. in the Board Chambers of the Eric Rood Administrative Center, Nevada County Office of Emergency Services presents Fire Resistant Homes & Defensible Space, the second in a four-part, speaker series, designed to educate and inspire the community to prepare for fire season.

These cooler days are the perfect time to tackle cleanup projects outside that could be more difficult or hazardous in the warmer months. Smart planning and collaboration are key parts of a fire safe strategy. Sharing clear guidelines helps facilitate that.  “It was a full house for the first event and we’re encouraged by the feedback. We’ve found meeting in person to talk through a plan helps keep people motivated,” says Jeff Pettit, Sheriff Caption over the Office of Emergency Services.

Speakers Dr. Kate Wilkin and Matt Furtado

Highlighting the latest science and best practices for our area, attendees will learn how to harden their homes and maintain their property from these fire professionals:

Dr. Kate Wilkin is the new Forest and Fire Adviser with UC Cooperative Extension in Butte, Nevada, Sutter, and Yuba Counties. She recently moved here from Berkeley, CA where she was postdoctoral researcher focused on wildfire emissions and fire-forest-water relations. Her PhD, also at UC Berkeley, focused on the efficacy of fuel treatments in Northern California shrublands to reduce fire hazards and on mixed conifer forest-fire-water and fire-biodiversity relations. Before moving to California, Kate grew up in rural Appalachia and then explored other fire-prone regions of the US as a natural resource manager and prescribed fire burner on public and nonprofit lands. Based on these experiences and more, she knows that we need to use solutions responsibly, both old and new, to solve our forest health crisis. Kate will be focusing on incorporating fire safe concepts into residential landscaping.

Matt Furtado, CAL FIRE and Nevada County Fire Prevention Planner, will teach techniques for preparing your driveways and access roads, rooves, vents, eaves, walls and decks to be as safe as possible before the height of fire season.

Living in Nevada County means fire preparedness is a year-round responsibility but with some planning and community coordination, we will be ready for fire season.

“Now more than ever we need collaborative and creative solutions. I’m looking forward to sharing the most up to date information with Nevada County and inspiring people to get involved. We need to work as individuals, neighborhoods, communities, and as a county to become adapted to living with fire”, says Wilkin

Watch Live Online

For those unable to attend, this meeting will be live-streamed on the Nevada County Office of Emergency Services Facebook, cable channel 18, and online at Nevada County Digital Media Center’s website: nevadacountytv.org.