Wildfire Protection & Emergency Preparedness: This committee maintains the Occidental evacuation map. It works with local and county fire officials to ensure coordination within the larger area and incorporates what emergency workers need residents to do in an emergency and to clarify fire-disaster notification. This committee also works with the Fire Mitigation committee to ensure that evacuation routes are clear and well paved. This committee also looks for other ways to improve our community emergency preparedness through education and curating resources like the list of essential items for “go bags” and the evacuation check-off list.
This committee develops a Community Wildfire Protection Plan by soliciting experts who can help us identify and prioritize areas in Occidental with the highest risks. The committee will help enact the plan, once approved. This committee researches and educates the community on things each property owner can do to mitigate the risk of fire about topics like “defensible space.”
Empowering Neighborhood Groups: This committee assists the formation of Occidental Neighborhood groups, providing templates for contact lists, supplies to purchase, meeting topics, and other information that helps groups form and become active. This committee helps neighborhood groups develop phone, text, and email links. This committee acts as a liaison between neighborhood groups to help us all learn from each other and expedite our learning curve.
Education: This committee coordinates with the other sub-committees to improve our community’s knowledge base through newsletters, meetings, and other forums. They will create district wide manages education for residents on topics such as “defensible space,” “structural hardening,” and evacuation planning.” This committee organizes district-wide meetings — finding speakers, engaging sub-committees, locating venues, advertising, and finding means to engage the community in becoming active in this fire safe effort.
Business: This is a sub-group of the steering committee that solidifies the organization (Fire Safe Occidental) including the mission statement, non-profit status, public relations, and related matters. This committee maintains communication with local business groups, politicians, and other related groups including the Occidental Community Council and various neighborhood groups.