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Placerville council proclaims Aprilto October 2025 as wildfire-awareness season; residents urged to create defensible space
Summary
The council recognized a countywide wildfire-awareness proclamation, heard public comments about evacuation routes and defensible space, and learned of a coordinated outreach campaign led by the county Office of Wildfire Preparedness and local partners.
Placerville City Council recognized a proclamation designating April through October 2025 as "wildfire-awareness season" and heard public comments urging residents to create and maintain defensible space around homes.
Mayor Clerici read a proclamation describing recent regional fires and called on residents to reduce fire risk on their properties. County wildfire staff and local Fire Safe Council representatives briefed the council on an upcoming outreach campaign and community events.
Tanya Hart of the county Office of Wildfire Preparedness and Resilience said the county and partner agencies will run an intensive public education effort after the county adopts a similar proclamation. "Following the proclamation, next week, there will be an intensive campaign by all the agencies... educating the community on everything we can be doing together for wildfire preparedness," she said.
Several residents and leaders stressed local evacuation concerns. Sue Rodman, a member of the Fire Safe Council, urged property owners to create defensible space, noting that cleared areas around a home can prevent ignition: "If you do your defensible space... when the wildfires do go through, there's these homes that didn't burn."
Another speaker emphasized a transportation study that identified the Clay Street Bridge as a key evacuation and mitigation component. He told the council the bridge in its current configuration cannot safely accommodate both outbound evacuating residents and inbound emergency personnel at the same time, and asked the council to prioritize any future Clay Street Bridge improvements when that item comes before them.
Council staff encouraged residents to report problem areas on public property so staff can follow up; Community Services Director Dennis Nishihara noted recent clearing of city-managed public property in advance of the season.
The council did not take formal regulatory action on the proclamation at the March 25 meeting; the item served as a formal recognition and public-awareness step and as a prompt for planned county-led outreach and local interagency coordination.
