Richmond hills residents trying to prevent an Oakland firestorm from happening

Statewide, Cal Fire is currently coping with 6,500 wildfires that have burned 1 million acres, most notably in the Bridge Fire in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. 

All told, almost 1,700 structures have been damaged or destroyed and one person has been killed.

With a Red Flag Warning issued Friday for the East Bay Hills, which is scheduled to end this morning, and October marking the arrival of peak fire season, many Richmond residents are more than aware of what could happen here.

Richmond’s dried out grasslands and hillsides overgrown with vegetation are in prime condition to be tinder for a raging blaze, say local residents and fire officials.

With that in mind, residents of Richmond’s hills are taking action to better protect their neighborhoods.

Neighborhoods of particular concern include El Sobrante Hills and Hilltop Green in eastern Richmond as well as Point Richmond in the western part of the city.

“Wildfires are now a fact of life, and we must learn how to cope with and manage the risks they bring,” said Richmond City Council member Soheila Bana, who lives in El Sobrante Hills.

Richmond Fire Marshal Eric Munson agrees.

“Every year, it becomes more dangerous, unfortunately,” he said.

Aging homes, poor vegetation management add to risk

Munson said three factors contribute to this increased risk: When a neighborhood’s houses were built, how well its vegetation is maintained and climate change.

Richmond has a  large number of older homes that were built before newer fire safety codes were established in the 1990s. The city has also not been properly maintaining vegetation in some undeveloped areas over the years. Those factors, combined with the impacts of climate change, are making fire danger higher everywhere.

Munson said Richmond’s hills aren’t as dangerous in the event of a fire as the Berkeley and Oakland hillside regions, which have steeper and deeper hillsides, more overgrown vegetation and windier and more narrow roads.

But he said poor vegetation management is still a top concern in eastern Richmond while narrow roads could present a problem fighting or escaping a wildfire in Point Richmond.

The eucalyptus trees that grow on public lands near east Richmond’s neighborhoods also increase the risk of wildfire. Just on Friday, following a week of above-average temperatures in Richmond and the Bay Area, a half-acre fire east of Wildcat Creek Trail in El Sobrante broke out, warranting an air attack response as the blaze moved uphill in the mix of grass, brush and trees, according to the incident command report on the Watch Duty fire app, which sends real-time alerts about fires.

Munson explained that these trees have internal and external sap that can cause them to explode when they catch on fire. Such explosions send a cascade of sparks that can ignite nearby trees, bushes and grasslands.

Bana, who is on the board of the West Contra Costa Fire Safe Council (WCCFSC), founded in 2022, is also worried about the eucalyptus trees.

“Eucalyptus trees are particularly concerning as they are highly flammable and should either be removed or, at the very least, [trimmed], with their understudy cleared,” Bana said.

Among other plans, leaders of neighborhood councils have proposed creating a major fuel break to help protect Richmond neighborhoods if a fire spreads from Wildcat Canyon and neighboring Tilden Park.

In early July, there were three small fires in Tilden Park that were quickly extinguished. One of the blazes was ignited when a large bird hit a power line.

Bana said the neighborhoods have been working with agencies such as the East Bay Regional Park District and the East Bay Municipal Utility District to reduce overgrown vegetation on their land that abuts residential homes.

She said the city of Richmond has also been involved but has limited financial resources to complete any major projects.

PG&E and East Bay Regional Park District play a role

A particular concern is a grove of eucalyptus trees next to a PG&E substation in El Sobrante Hills. Bana said she has contacted PG&E officials about trimming or removing these trees, but so far the utility has been “unresponsive” to this and other requests, including one asking them to remove dry vegetation near their transmission towers.

PG&E officials sent Richmondside a statement saying the utility is vigilant in vegetation management. 

“PG&E manages multiple parcels in the El Sobrante area, with a focus on weed abatement compliance around the perimeter of our substation. We work and inspect this area regularly, including multiple times this calendar year alone,” the officials said. “This process includes inspections and cutting and/or treating weeds to meet any local hazardous vegetation abatement ordinances. In addition, we have trimmed trees around our substation and have an annual fuel reduction mowing project.”

They noted that the utility is not responsible for vegetation growing around transmission towers on private property. That is the landowner’s responsibility.

They added that PG&E has also helped reduce wildfire risk by installing stronger tower poles and covering power lines as well as undergrounding 10,000 miles of distribution power lines throughout its system in Central and Northern California.

East Bay Regional Park District officials say they are also constantly busy with managing the vegetation.

EBRPD Assistant Fire Chief Khari Helae said the district has spent $12 million so far this year on fire suppression efforts. They have another $30 million in pending grants for similar work.

He said the district’s grant writers and government affairs office are diligent about applying for grants from federal authorities, state agencies and other sources such as Cal Fire. The fire suppression funds are spread throughout the EBRPD’s lands in Contra Costa and Alameda counties.

“We treat all areas the same,” Helae said. “We disperse our work evenly.”

The fire suppression methods include the goats that graze in 13 parks to EBRPD crews with chain saws that cut back bushes and small trees to contracted crews that thin and chop down large trees.

In recent weeks, one of those contracted crews trimmed a grove of eucalyptus trees near San Pablo Dam and Castro Ranch Road.

Helae said crews have also completed vegetation management and tree trimming along Coach Drive in the El Sobrante Hills and worked on fire suppression efforts in Kennedy Grove near San Pablo Reservoir.

Helae said the district keeps a close eye on the Richmond hills.

“They’ve been on our radar for awhile,” he said.

The Contra Costa County Fire Protection District also has a number of ongoing wildfire mitigation programs.

Some neighborhoods lack adequate evacuation routes

If a large blaze does break out, a major concern for Richmond residents is how to evacuate.

Bana said residents of El Sobrante Hills have only a handful of access roads, including San Pablo Dam Road, Castro Ranch Road and Pinole Valley Road.

In the Hilltop Green neighborhood, Park Central Street is the only road in and out of the subdivision. Bana said there have been proposals to create an emergency evacuation route into the adjacent Pinole Vista Crossing shopping center, but so far those plans have not come to fruition.

Munson said adding an emergency access road in the back of the Hilltop Green development was studied, but it was determined “not to be a viable option.”

He explained that the shopping center is privately owned and under the city of Pinole’s jurisdiction. He added that building a road from Hilltop Green would traverse too closely to two-story structures that could become safety hazards in a fire or earthquake.

He said Hilltop Green has a lower risk of a fire spreading quickly because it is a newer subdivision so its homes were built under modern fire safety standards that include adobe exteriors and flame-retardant roofs. He noted that the vegetation there isn’t as thick as it is in some older neighborhoods.

El Sobrante Hills residents meet to learn about wildfire prevention

Of course, fire prevention measures won’t have a major impact if local residents aren’t aware of the strategies or don’t buy into them.

That’s why Bana has been organizing neighborhood meetings in El Sobrante Hills.

At a gathering in mid-September, a dozen neighbors sat in Bana’s backyard to learn about wildfire prevention.

Donald Bastin, a resident of Kennedy Grove, spoke to the group about how his neighborhood attained a FireWise designation. The program is sponsored by the National Fire Protection Association to help neighborhoods reduce their wildfire risk. The designation is given after a neighborhood demonstrates it has taken steps to prevent wildfires.

“The whole idea is to energize people,” Bastin told Richmondside.

He explained that earning the FireWise designation not only reduces fire danger, it also makes it easier to apply for grants. He said the neighborhood was recently awarded money from Contra Costa County’s Measure X, a 20-year half-cent sales tax approved by voters in 2021 for a variety of programs. They used the money to hold a chipper day, where residents brought in vegetation to be chopped up.

Bastin also said implementing wildfire prevention measures can help hold down insurance costs for homeowners.

But even with these perks, residents can still be reluctant to pitch in.

“They sometimes aren’t interested,” said Ray Corey, an El Sobrante Hills resident who attended the meeting. “They feel like they have better things to do.”

With that in mind, Marilyn Saarni, a master gardener who is also a member of the West Contra Costa Fire Safe Council, told the group there are a lot of things that aren’t time-consuming that homeowners can do.

She said vegetation, in particular juniper bushes, should be at least two feet away from structures.

She said having a rubber door mat can help stop a fire from spreading. So can double-paned glass, which can prevent a window from being broken by a tree limb downed by fire.

Saarni also recommended that flammable items, in particular paper products, not be stored in an attic. Those materials can help fuel flames that can race across the top level of a home.

“You should do as much as you can,” she told the neighborhood gathering.

Munson also spoke to the group. He said it’s vital that residents get the word out to their neighbors.

“We have a responsibility to educate our community,” he said.

Even if residents in one area are diligent when it comes to wildfire prevention measures, their efforts can be undone if nearby neighborhoods don’t do their part.

That’s why the East Bay Wildfire Coalition of Governments (EBWC) was formed in April. The agency brings together officials from Alameda County and Contra Costa County as well as the cities of Berkeley, El Cerrito, Hercules, Oakland, Pinole and Richmond. The Rodeo-Hercules Fire Protection District is also a member.

The Contra Costa County Fire Protection District’s Advisory Fire Commission also provides an opportunity for citizen input. The commission is currently looking for two volunteers to serve as members on the board. The commission is responsible for confirming the cost of abatement reports; conducting weed abatement appeal hearings; approving surplus equipment declarations; and advising the county fire chief on district service matters. 

Richmond City Council member Gayle McLaughlin, Richmond’s representative on the EBWC, said the main purpose of her organization is to have various cities and agencies work together to prevent wildfires.

At its most recent meeting on Sept. 23, the coalition members discussed a framework for wildfire prevention strategies.

Vegetation management and coordinating joint firefighting efforts are among the top priorities.

McLaughlin noted that a fire in the Oakland or Berkeley hills can easily race through the hilltops and reach cities such as Richmond.

“It helps a lot to coordinate,” she told Richmondside. “Fire knows no boundaries.”