Woodside Fire launches resident scheduling and community map; committee hears 10-year mitigation progress

The Woodside Fire marshal told the Portola Valley Wildfire Preparedness Committee that the district has launched a monthly public-education newsletter called "Ready Resident" and two online scheduling tools to make it easier for residents to book real-estate disclosure inspections and home assessments.

The announcement, during the committee's meeting, was paired with a demonstration of a new community map that lets users enter an address, see the parcel and inspection zone, confirm whether they're in a Firewise community, view the assigned fire inspector and station, and schedule an inspection. The marshal said the map and scheduling links will be published on district pages and shared in the newsletter and through local groups to increase resident participation.

"We finally launched two different types of online scheduling for residents," the fire marshal said, describing one tool for real-estate disclosure inspections and another for home assessments. She said the online options aim to reduce the number of missed visits when homeowners are not present and to improve the district's ability to complete inspections across all parcels.

The marshal also reviewed the district's ten-year right-of-way mitigation plan, which began with main evacuation routes and is now moving into maintenance and secondary streets. She said the district tracks miles completed, crew days and types of work in a spreadsheet and will publish town-specific breakdowns and before-and-after photos on the fuel-mitigation web pages so residents can see what work has been done.

Committee members asked how priority streets are chosen; the marshal explained Dan, the fuel-mitigation manager, drives the district and follows a priority list formulated when the program began, with a focus on evacuation routes and then feeder streets. She added that priorities change over time based on observed regrowth and seasonal conditions.

The marshal also clarified the program's limits: routine right-of-way work covers maintenance such as brushing and limbing, not removal of healthy, living trees. "If it's something that is [a removal], then you have to go through CEQA," she said, noting that tree removals and larger disturbance actions would require additional town review and would not be part of the maintenance contract.

The committee expressed support for posting the mitigation spreadsheet and map materials on the district's web pages and encouraged the marshal to include links to Firewise leader contacts so new residents can connect with local block captains. The marshal said she will publish the materials on the fuel-mitigation page and add statistics for chipping and other services broken down by community.

Next steps: the marshal will publish the map and spreadsheet information on the district's web pages, follow up with Firewise leaders about contact sharing, and prepare a brief right-of-way progress summary for the committee's next meeting.