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Woodside leaders, residents ask for stepped-up wildfire readiness after Southern California fires
Summary
Council members and residents at the Jan. 14 meeting urged increased fire-prevention work and community preparedness after large wildfires in Southern California; Mayor Domkowski said the town will pursue additional federal, state and county funding and host a series of briefings with the Woodside Fire Protection District.
Mayor Brian Domkowski opened the Jan. 14 meeting by acknowledging the recent, large wildfires in the greater Los Angeles area and urging the town to intensify fire-prevention work. "As elected officials, we have an imperative to mitigate the risk of fire in Woodside and the surrounding communities," Mayor Domkowski said, noting the town's large areas of very-high fire hazard.
Domkowski said he had contacted federal, state and county officials — including Congressman Mike, state Senator Becker, Assemblymember Berman and County Supervisor Mueller — to request funding support for the town's existing programs, which include a defensible-space fund, hazardous-tree removal and home-hardening measures. He told the council that about eight personnel from the Woodside Fire Protection District had been sent to Southern California for mutual-aid deployments and that the district "staffs up through overtime so that we don't fall below any minimum staffing requirements" while those personnel are away.
Domkowski also reported that Supervisor Dave (Mueller) and Supervisor Spear were named to a county subcommittee to review readiness and lessons learned from the Southern California fires. He said the town would agendize the Woodside Fire Protection District for an upcoming meeting to brief the council about readiness and capabilities and that the town plans a series of public speakers and workshops on prevention, evacuation and preparedness.
Public commenters reinforced the council's focus on preparedness. Resident David Middleman described private efforts to remove vegetation on a 13-acre parcel and said federal matching funds would expand such private efforts. Resident Sue Paletti urged that the town strictly apply the fire code in site-selection and project reviews, argued that some proposed housing sites merited reconsideration because of access and evacuation concerns, and said the town should not move ahead with projects that cannot meet fire-code requirements.
The town also publicized immediate, practical steps for residents: staff noted an upcoming "Safety Tips for Older Adults" workshop led by Woodside Fire at 3 p.m. on Thursday (in the meeting room), and town staff and partners (Woodside Library, San Mateo County Adult Services) were listed as participants.
Council members pledged continued work with the fire district, county and neighboring jurisdictions on funding and prevention. Council members also said that future project-level reviews would include fire-code compliance checks and, where necessary, project design changes to meet evacuation and apparatus-access standards.
