We all had better get ready. Global warming is not going away any time soon. If you think you’re safe, think again. I DON’T want to be a voice of doom. I want to have a voice of preparedness and positive results. It can still happen, we have time.
Growing up on Lisbon Street in Lewiston, Maine, my greatest fear was that someday the house across the street was going to catch fire. It never did and I grew out of my fear, before I even moved on. Fast forward to my first 25 years in California, fires only happened in Southern California. But, by October 8, 2017, my fears came home to roost, with the Kinkade Fire. We helplessly watched…

“The Kincade Fire was a wildfire that burned in Sonoma County, California in the United States. The fire started northeast of Geyserville in The Geysers on 9:24 p.m., on October 23, 2019, and subsequently burned 77,758 acres (31,468 ha) until the fire was fully contained on November 6, 2019. The fire threatened over 90,000 structures and caused widespread evacuations throughout Sonoma County, including the communities of Geyserville, Healdsburg, Windsor, and Santa Rosa.” BTW, This was right outside our bedroom glass door window, essentially across the “ravine.”
It was only a few miles from where we’re living in Geyserville. Evacuated, for nine days, we stood on the west side of Highway 101, and watched the fires being put out, so they encroached on our home. Every day was filled with angst. What this prompted was a lot more preparedness, for everyone in Northern California. Everyone can thank our lucky starts that we have Chief Marshall Tuberville, as the Northern Sonoma County Fire Chief, right in our own home town. That said, when our fire broke out, our Fire Chief Marshall was already called to another fire, in Norther Santa Rosa, called the Tubbs Fire. Firefighters coming from Oregon, and as far away as Australia, to help us. Can you imagine!

My town is doomed, when you look at this picture I decided to take today. This neighborhood is going up in smoke in a New York second, if things don’t change.

Look at all of the fuel sources!
I can’t help but wonder… Are you are willing to watch this quick video, so you’ll begin your journey of preparedness? If you don’t watch it, you might have regrets when it’s too late, just as an FYI.
What’s just happened to Hawaii is immensely tragic. Anyone involved in a horrific fire knows too well the pain and suffering. And, it’s a reminder that if we want to be protected, Chief Marshall Tuberville’s words — well, a word to the wise, as Mom used to say, should be sufficient. I just had a drive through my own town, to see who is prepared for a worst case scenario, and there are major fails. And those who are prepared will suffer their consequences for remaining uncooperative. This should not have to happen, if we’d each do our own part. And, we’d damned well better get busy, to put it mildly.
Living in Northern California has taught me so much more besides my wine education. I’ve been learning preparedness, lest my worst fears still come to fruition. We’re ALL in this “global warning” together, people. And, this is around the world, not just in Tennessee or Mississippi. Global Warming, have you bought into it yet? If not, what are you waiting for? Northern Sonoma County Fire District – Geyserville Chief Marshall Turbeville talks about Available Resources For Wildfire Prevention – PLEASE watch as soon as possible. Time IS running out.
Cal fire resources and Fire Chief Marshall Tuberville leave no stone unturned for what has to happen.
Great article and video on preparedness, Jo. I happened to have the co-authors of Firescaping Your Home, a Manual for Readiness in Wildfire Country, on my radio show this past Monday. (Replay at https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/archives.ksvy.org/KSVY_2023-08-07__08_00_06.mp3) The book is filled with tips, photos, illustrations, and much detail about how fires evolve. I’ll have them back on the show 8/28. (I have no affiliation with them or the book.) The better prepared we all are, the more improved our chances are of reducing devastation from fires.
Indeed, Marcia. If you’d also ever like to have Fire Chief Marshall Tuberville on your program, especially for the COPE program – which covers all of Sonoma County – he’d be a great addition. I can help connect the two of you. I’m not his PR agent, but that doesn’t stop me from not getting one of the best to you, too. He’s so articulate and passionate about his Northern Sonoma County reach.
I also realize your a wine-based program, so you have to spread it out… But…
I heard him speak at our Geyserville Planning Committee meeting, and Jose and I went into production with videoing him. I have one more to go, with him on my wine blog.
He just reduces it down for people, simplifying, to empower them.
I agree, Jo. Developments like the vineyard club should have never been allowed. Encroachment of wild areas by development can lead to catastrophic events.
Any developments that happen, including small towns like Geyserville, happen; and then, the consequences occur. I just drove thru the small, back streets of Geyserville, because Fire Chief Marshall Tuberville has a segment where he talks about a catastrophic situation that could happen there, just like Coffee Park. Houses too close (they’re almost all on a one lane roads), fences for each one, landscaping within their yards. Defensible Space is 20 feet. There might be as little as eight feet between each house. He knows that if a fire starts in town, it will be wiped out.
Developments like the vineyard Club have from one to 50 acres between them, and each one is now working on eliminating the trees and landscaping wherever they can. The fire department comes to their homes and inspects yards, giving them advice.
In town, they would never sustain a house and then the street catching on fire, according to Fire Chief Marshall Tuberville. I’m as frightened as he is, now that I’ve driven down those roads, to learn what he’s talking about.
We can’t escape flying embers, Joe Embers, we can only start to pick up around our homes, eliminating anything that would be a flying ember where a dead leaf or wood pile could catch fire.