Tag Archives: Fire Safety

Is Oakland Prepared for the Next Fire? (Part 3)

Posted on March 9, 2018 by | 4 comments

This is the third post in our three-part series on fire safety in Oakland. Read part one here and part two here.  In this post, we’ll continue the discussion of wildfire prevention.

Oakland Fire Department seems to have outdated monitoring systems. 10-15% of properties to be inspected have not turned up on inspection roles in the past. Additionally, a recent audit of OFD’s vegetation management found that in two fiscal years, OFD issued 1,369 invoices for vegetation code violations, totaling $419,386, but only collected $2,121 – because it had to void 98% of the fines due to input errors. Clearly OPD needs more inspectors and better data systems.

This recent audit also found that OFD still needs to improve its internal controls, its oversight of the inspection system, and needs to develop a better enforcement system for cars blocking ingress for emergency vehicles. Furthermore, OFD does not appear to have a system in place to track structure or wildfire deaths year over year. This type of data collection should be required.

OFD has been working for years on a new vegetation management plan, and we are told it should be ready by 2019. This plan will only be a scientific assessment of the vegetation in City parks and open space in the hills, and the best practices and standards for reducing the fire risk. Should the City Council adopt these future findings, we still need the City to commit resources to making sure robust prevention occurs.

OFD can also better protect residents by implementing technology solutions. San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) has invested in automatic electrical switch systems. They cut electricity to 12,000 customers in San Diego County in December during the recent wildfires after winds reached 88 mph in some rural areas. Meanwhile, PG&E is still struggling to develop a policy for whether to embrace automatic electrical shut-offs. The control of electrical lines is not OFD’s responsibility, but OFD could be an advocate for such a solution. SDG&E looks at red flag warnings the same as other utilities look at hurricane warnings – they have built an infrastructure and mind set that lets them and their clients prepare in advance. Oakland and PG&E should invest in the same infrastructure for Oakland as well as other Bay Area communities.

WUI residents are now starting to pay the cost – in addition to bearing greater fire risk. Residents are discovering insurance carriers will no longer cover fire risk (or offer only a small level of coverage, or require much higher premiums). Insurance companies are using more complex models to determine the fire risk in different areas – and the Oakland Hills fall into a high-risk profile. It’s not clear whether better preventive efforts will lead to better insurance policies, but the risk of wildfire, regardless of insurance concerns, demands better support from the City.

What do you think Oakland could do better to improve its wildfire prevention strategy? Comment below or email us at makeoaklandbetter@gmail.com. 

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Is Oakland Prepared for the Next Fire? (Part 2)

Posted on March 8, 2018 by | 2 comments

Is Oakland Prepared for the Next Fire?

This is part two of a three-part series on fire safety in Oakland. Read part one here. In this post we’ll examine the history and dangers of wildfires in Oakland.

As discussed in our last post, Oakland’s 1991 wildfire and recent wildfires across the state should make us take the threat of wildfires seriously. We know wildlands in the western United States tend to burn regularly, and wildland ecosystems need fire to maintain themselves. Wildfires are fueled by dry vegetation and wind, and the East Bay’s vegetation is becoming dryer for more days of the year, particularly with the drought, which seems to be returning in 2018. Severe wind conditions may also become more extreme: the 1991 Oakland Hills fire was driven by 65 miles-per-hour winds; the Santa Rosa Coffey Fire is reported to have been fed by winds at speeds over 60 mph.

The Oakland Hills is a wildland urban interface (WUI) – an area “where homes are built near or among lands prone to wildland fire,” as defined by the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC). A hundred years ago, the Oakland Hills only had a fraction of its current housing density. Oakland’s total 1900 population was about 67,000 people – more than doubling to 150,000 in 1910 after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. Now, in 2018, 25,000 people now live in areas near and above Highway 13, where dry vegetation abounds.

In 1993, the Oakland City Council recognized this wildfire risk and instituted a fire prevention district to reduce the vegetation fuel load on City properties in the Oakland hills and to increase related prevention services. Changes in California taxation law in 1997 forced the City to ask property owners to form an assessment district to continue receiving public funding, but voters refused it.

The City from 1997-2003 allocated $1 million per year from the general fund to support vegetation removal. Then in 2004, community volunteers successfully sponsored a Wildfire Prevention Assessment District (WPAD) with the support of 74% of voters. The new district was in place for 10 years from 2004-2014.

The WPAD funding was principally, but not entirely, aimed at City-owned lands, funding:  

  • Goat grazing on city open space
  • Free tree wood chipping and removal services for property owners in the District
  • Development of protocols for working in and around protected species
  • Installation of fire danger signs
  • Purchase of two remote automated weather station (RAWS) computer terminals
  • Funding for fuel reduction efforts on city properties in the District
  • Community education and outreach

In 2013, a WPAD reenactment ballot measure fell short of the needed two-thirds majority by 67 votes. The City of Oakland must now, once again,  fund these critical prevention services from the General Fund until such time as the public agrees to support a new funding source.

The Oakland Firesafe Council (OFSC), led by many of the WPAD volunteer leaders, issued a recent report on the state of current wildfire prevention. This report states that the biggest ongoing issues are: invasive ivy, dead debris, vegetation, and parked cars on narrow streets (blocking easy egress), tree limbs touching structures and/or the ground, and “substantial quantities of fire-prone vegetation on many of the public open space properties that have not been effectively maintained.”

Ken Benson of the OFSC and former WPAD Chair estimates that 40% of Oakland public lands (like street medians and city-owned parcels) would not pass the same inspection standards that the City asks residents to meet. The OFSC and leaders from the former WPAD also believe strongly that OFD suffers from inefficient and insufficient staffing in the Fire Prevention Bureau.

High turnover in inspectors is part of the problem – two positions are part-time and all vegetation management inspectors earn less than regular fire inspectors, so the newly hired seek promotion to higher paying positions as soon as possible.
Dangerous electrical wiring is harder to see than vegetation. One can easily drive through Hiller Highlands, Forest Park, Montclair, Woodminster, or upper Knowland Park to see areas with overgrown vegetation. Each year, OFD’s Fire Prevention Bureau inspects about 26,000 properties for compliance with the California Fire Code relative to vegetation management in the high-fire area of the Oakland hills. OFD inspectors are looking to see if properties have defensible space: if vegetation adjacent to buildings is cut back sufficiently such that the structure is not likely to catch fire from embers if the vegetation starts burning.

OFD states that compliance upon first inspection is less than 50% but increases to 95% upon the 2nd inspection, and thereafter results in a 98% compliance rate. However, this means that approximately 500 homes in high-danger areas continue to have dangerous amounts of dry vegetation year-round.

The difference between the OFSC report and the City’s accounting has to do with the quality of the initial inspections, and enforcement by the forever short-staffed vegetation management inspectors on those who have yet to comply. Furthermore, as stated above, volunteer leaders estimate that 40% of city-owned properties would fail inspections. We have no idea how the city inspects its own properties!

In our next post, part three, we will continue this discussion of wildfire prevention in Oakland.

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Is Oakland Prepared for the Next Fire?

Posted on March 7, 2018 by | Leave a comment

Oakland faces many challenges. Violent crime, homelessness, and an affordable housing crisis are all major issues commanding frequent media and political coverage. Fire danger does not regularly demand as much of our attention as these constant threats to livability and quality of life. But we have seen fires  destroy lives and neighborhoods. The wildfires in Northern and Southern California made it clear: fire season is now 365 days a year.

It’s not acceptable to ignore and postpone fire prevention – and Make Oakland Better Now! believes it needs to be a priority and part of the City’s overall holistic community safety plan.

The Oakland Fire Department’s (OFD) official mission is to “provide the highest quality and highest level of courteous and responsive services to the citizens of Oakland.” These services include responding to emergencies, Fire Prevention, and training. OFD has over 500 employees to prevent and respond to emergencies.

The Ghost Ship warehouse fire on December 2, 2016 caused the deaths of 36 young people. The fire in a West Oakland San Pablo Avenue apartment building left four people dead. These incidents make us more aware of the terrible dangers of unsafe building structures – as well as the need for regular inspections and follow-up.

Many Oaklanders, whether they experienced it or not, will also recall the Oakland Hills firestorm of October 20, 1991. This conflagration – considered the most destructive wildfire in California (until the recent Tubbs Fire in Northern California this past October) killed 25 people, injured about 150 others, and destroyed over 3,000 single family homes and apartment buildings. An Oakland newcomer would no longer notice the terrible damage that occurred 27 years ago in Hiller Highlands, Forest Park and Upper Rockridge. The recent Santa Rosa Tubbs Fire, which now appears to have killed at least 43 people, and the Ventura wildfire, which burned 1,063 structures and led to the death of a firefighter, are all fresh in our memory.

We are left to ask – are OFD and the City doing enough to prevent future structural fires and wildfires here in Oakland?

One reality is that almost 80% of the 96,000 emergency calls OFD receives each year relate to medical emergencies. OFD’s 420 sworn firefighters are certified Emergency Medical Technicians and each of OFD’s 25 stations are staffed with paramedics. However, the risk of structural fires and wildfires requires prevention – not just response.

The courts are still deciding who is legally responsible for the Ghost Ship fire deaths, but enough is known to say that the City should have already have in place a more robust inspection system. Buildings like the Ghost Ship warehouse, with very clearly dangerous violations of building codes, should not be allowed to go uninspected year after year. Likewise, the threat wildfire poses to people and property in parts of Oakland merits a constant focus on prevention.

OFD’s Fire Prevention Bureau is responsible for fire safety education, fire-cause determination, inspection of high-hazard occupancies, code enforcement, and vegetation management. The Fire Prevention Bureau is officially budgeted for 11 building inspectors and 4 vegetation inspectors plus one supervising vegetation management inspector. This staff is almost certainly insufficient to properly ensure that Oakland buildings are fire safe and that public and private property is prepared for the next inevitable fire. An April 27 letter from former acting Fire Chief Darin White stated that several fire inspectors lack the required certification requirements for their positions.

We also know many buildings in Oakland are not being regularly inspected. Just recently on Friday, February 23, a large fire erupted at the vacant city-owned Carnegie library building in East Oakland, which has suffered fire in the past.

OFD’s absence of a fireboat is another cause for alarm. Oakland’s Port plays a vital role in the city’s economy, yet there is no water-based protection system. OFD needs a fireboat not just for fighting shipboard fires and doing rescues on the water, but as a line of defense against regional disasters. (A fireboat can be used as a needed supply of water all the way up to the Oakland Hills.)

This Spring, Oakland’s Mayor, administration and City Council will make mid-cycle adjustments to the 2017-2019 budget.  We’ll be watching this process closely and providing our input on a range of issues and responsibilities. But we will push for greater efforts to reduce fire risk and protect Oakland.

This is part one of a three-part series on fire safety in Oakland. (Read part two and part three.) In our next post, we will take a more in-depth look at wildfire danger.

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