Wildfire Preparedness a New Approach Report Date: April 18, 2019

Conclusions 37

• CL1
  Existing vegetation management codes are both inconsistent and inconsistently enforced.
• CL2
  There are not enough trained vegetation inspectors or fuel reduction crews.
• CL3
  Current vegetation enforcement procedures are slow, difficult and expensive.
• CL4
  Government agencies and safety authorities cannot currently manage vegetation on public lands.
• CL5
  All property owners are responsible for vegetation management on their property, yet they are not sufficiently educated about vegetation management and many do not have the physical and financial resources to create defensible space. FINDINGS — Education of the Public
• CL6
  Wildfire preparedness education is inconsistent and fails to reach most citizens, especially parents of young children.
• CL7
  The most effective method of education is person to person in neighborhoods.
• CL8
  Although Marin has 30 plus Firewise neighborhoods, the most in California, they only cover a small percentage of population and land.
• CL9
  Sufficient public funds have not been provided to sustain comprehensive wildfire preparedness education.
• CL10
  Educating the public requires a different set of skills than firefighters usually have. April 18, 2019 Marin County Civil Grand Jury Page 22 of 37 Wildfire Preparedness: A New Approach FINDINGS — Alerts
• CL11
  Any hesitation to use the WEA system can be deadly even if its alerts might reach people outside of its intended target zone.
• CL12
  Alert Marin sends the most accurately targeted warnings to endangered populations, but it reaches too few residents because it is not well publicized. Both Alert Marin and Nixle require opt-in registration, a serious design flaw.
• CL13
  Sirens could be a useful and reliable warning system if their numbers and locations were increased to broaden their reach and if they were enhanced with a customized message through LRAD. FINDINGS — Evacuations
• CL14
  In the WUI and in many town centers, infrastructure and roads are inadequate for mass evacuations.
• CL15
  Evacuation routes are dangerously overgrown with vegetation and many evacuation routes are too narrow to allow safe passage in an emergency.
• CL16
  Emergency planners often do not publicize evacuation routes due to their mistrust of the public.
• CL17
  Town councils, planners, and public works officials have not addressed traffic choke points and, in some instances, they have created obstacles to traffic flow by the installation of concrete medians, bumpouts, curbs, speed bumps, and lane reductions.
• CL18
  No studies have been performed to determine how long it would take to evacuate entire communities via existing evacuation corridors.
• CL19
  The implementation of traffic-light sequencing and coordination to allow mass egress, and the conversion of two-way roads into one-way evacuation routes to ease traffic congestion, are dangerously delayed and years away from being implemented.
• CL20
  Public transit is a neglected asset of emergency response preparedness: all operators except one transit agency are left out of the command structure and none is integrated into the emergency radio communication system MERA.
• CL21
  A bureaucratic culture of complacency and inertia exists in Marin. Government often fails to act quickly to repair known gaps in emergency preparedness, to think flexibly, and to prioritize safety in its planning and policies. FINDINGS — Umbrella
• CL22
  No countywide comprehensive, coordinated policies have been made and no funds have been allocated to prepare for wildfires. April 18, 2019 Marin County Civil Grand Jury Page 23 of 37 Wildfire Preparedness: A New Approach
• CL23
  Vegetation management: Create a countywide group of at least 30 plus full-time vegetation management inspectors with authority granted by each constituent jurisdiction to inspect property throughout the county regardless of the city/town or county where the property is located. The inspectors would be authorized to issue citations to enforce countywide protocols established by best practices for safe vegetation management. The Entity would create uniform enforcement of vegetation management citations as well as develop an expedited legal process akin to the process currently used in civil courts for evictions. This would ensure prompt compliance with citations. If the creation of this accelerated enforcement procedure requires state legislative action, the Entity should lobby the California legislature for these changes.
• CL24
  Fuel Reduction Crews: Create sufficient fire/fuels crews whose sole responsibilities would be to work on reducing the fuel load starting with the highest fire risk areas.
• CL25
  Education: Engage in public outreach and education either through dedicated staff or by subcontracting with FIRESafe Marin.
• CL26
  Alerts and Evacuations: Develop countywide best practice policies for alert notification systems and evacuation route planning, including the possible use of new technology, such as the LRAD system, as well as working with public transit agencies to develop emergency response protocols, evacuations, drills and alerts.
• CL27
  Public Participation: Create programs to encourage fuel reduction work by citizens on their own properties as well as develop funding programs either by the Entity or through grants from other sources to help the elderly, those with access and functional needs, and low-income residents. Suggested Structure The Grand Jury proposes that the Entity be a Joint Powers Authority (JPA). It should include every special fire district, every city and town, Marin County Fire Department, Marin Municipal Water District (MMWD) and Parks and Open Space. See Appendix D for a list of those that should be members of the Entity. Although the fire chiefs and city/town managers in the county have come together to formulate a joint community-wide response to all the major wildfire issues, their working group is an informal structure. This group will not be able to fully implement and enforce all of the programs and protocols necessary to make Marin firesafe and prevent individual jurisdictions from adopting their own practices. As fire knows no jurisdictional boundaries, a countywide JPA must be formed to unify wildfire preparation. Funding Funding for pre-ignition and pre-suppression projects is the main obstacle cited by all government agencies and fire districts. Not only do government entities claim that there are no excess funds in their budgets, individual fire departments and special fire districts also claim that they do not have enough money to undertake the types of pre-ignition and pre-suppression proposals cited in this report. It is imperative to solve this critical issue. April 18, 2019 Marin County Civil Grand Jury Page 20 of 37 Wildfire Preparedness: A New Approach Two practical methods for funding the Entity are (1) a countywide parcel tax or (2) a countywide sales tax:
• CL28
  Marin Municipal Water District
• CL29
  Marinwood Community Services District – Fire Department
• CL30
  Novato Fire Protection District
• CL31
  Ross Valley Fire Department – serves the Towns of San Anselmo, Fairfax, Ross and the Sleepy Hollow Fire Protection District
• CL32
  Sleepy Hollow Fire Protection District – provides only pre-ignition and pre-suppression services to Sleepy Hollow
• CL33
  Southern Marin Fire Protection District – serves the communities of Tamalpais Valley, Almonte, Homestead Valley, Alto, Strawberry, approximately 1/4 of the Town of Tiburon, the City of Sausalito, Fort Baker and the Marin Headlands.
• CL34
  Stinson Beach Fire Protection District
• CL35
  Tiburon Fire Protection District – serves the Town of Tiburon and City of Belvedere and surrounding areas.
• CL36
  Town of Corte Madera
• CL37
  Town of Tiburon Since having 25 members would make the Entity difficult to manage, the Grand Jury recommends that the Entity hire an executive director. This should be a person with considerable knowledge and experience with the key pre-ignition and pre-suppression issues such as community education, vegetation management, alert notices, and evacuation policies. This person would be employed to create processes and programs, emphasizing “best practices,” for all pre-ignition and pre-suppression matters. To do this, the executive director would be authorized to hire staff necessary to carry out the Entity’s mandate. April 18, 2019 Marin County Civil Grand Jury Page 32 of 37 Wildfire Preparedness: A New Approach To help guide the executive director and staff with policy development, the Grand Jury recommends that the Entity as a whole, select a group of individuals from its membership to act as a Board of Directors. Finally, the Grand Jury recommends that the County Counsel’s office be authorized to draft the legal documents to create the Entity as well as the ballot measure for the ¼ cent sales tax. April 18, 2019 Marin County Civil Grand Jury Page 33 of 37 Wildfire Preparedness: A New Approach APPENDIX E: The 7 Deadly Sins of Emergency Management At a conference in Stockholm, Sweden on November 28, 2017, Craig Fugate, former Administrator of FEMA under President Obama, discussed what he considers to be The 7 Deadly Sins of Emergency Management:19