Useful video presentations for Portola Valley residents.

Portola Valley Wildfire Preparedness Fair Lecture Series Saturday, April 22, 2023

Moderated by Rita Williams an Emmy and Peabody award-winning journalist.

• Lecture 1 - Deputy Commissioner Julia Juarez of the California Department of Insurance (CDI) spoke on the new Safer from Wildfires insurance regulation. Insurers had to submit new rating plans that give homeowners discounts for taking any of the mitigation actions that make a home safer from wildfires. Insurers must tell you your wildfire score and explain what you can do to improve it. The CDI slides and advance Q&A are here. CDI's presentation starts at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnWqhTVW6sY&t=397s.
• Lecture 2 – The DIY Panelists describe actions they have taken to mitigate their homes. The video starts at https://youtu.be/qnWqhTVW6sY?t=3838
• Lecture 3 - What would happen during a wildfire event? Panelists explain how emergency action and response teams operate in a disaster. The slides are here but there is much more to learn from the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnWqhTVW6sY&t=7376s

When you become Ember Aware, you help protect your home and your neighbor’s home as well. If you are unsure of how embers can start a fire around your home, please watch the 30- minute, 2-part series, “Be Ember Aware”. These videos will help you recognize many areas around your home and landscape that must be mitigated to avoid ember accumulation or intrusion with subsequent ignition. Each video is 14 minutes.  Be Ember Aware Part 1 and Part 2.

Note: These ember videos are from 2011, so the current requirement in PV is to use fire-resistant vents (not simple wire mesh). Burning homes can also become an ember source, which is why it is so important to keep even one home from igniting.

The Jan-18-2022 presentation to the AHHEC on the Town of Paradise’s approach to the Housing Element in the wake of the Camp Fire. The presentation by Susan Hartman, Community Development Director and planner for Paradise, starts at minute 14:25 https://youtu.be/0WzWCtAelms?t=784

In the same Jan-18-2022 AHHEC meeting, Zeke Lunder, Pyrogeographer with Deer Creek Resources presented his preliminary assessment of the Town’s geographical and vegetation patterns in relation to fire risk. Zeke’s presentation starts at 1:57:40 https://youtu.be/0WzWCtAelms?t=6936

Free viewers are required for some of the attached documents.
They can be downloaded by clicking on the icons below.

Acrobat Reader Windows Media Player Word Viewer Excel Viewer PowerPoint Viewer