Ahh! Nothing like surfing on a Sunday afternoon. I discovered some interesting things: I was delighted to discover the California State Fire Marshall and the Assistant Fire Marshall are both women. 
Chief Fire Marshall Kate Dargan, who is a Cal Poly grad and 30 year veteran of CalFire, became the 14th State Fire Marshall since 1923 and the first woman to have the position. She had served as Napa County’s Fire Marshall from 2002-2005 before her appointment in 2005 as Assistant State Fire Marshall and she started her career as a firefighter in Santa Cruz in 1977. All of this is interesting to me (and her probably) and I am glad to see a woman (one who knows my neighborhoods past and current) in a top postion, and doing it well. I explored the Fire Marshall’s site, which has just been re-vamped, and found some interesting information relating to Building Codes and the Wildland Urban Interface.
At the April CCSD meeting, the Board considered a Cambria Wildland Fire Protection ordinance (Read more about it here.) Someone raised the issue at that time about the overlap of or confusion about the jurisdiction of the Cambria Fire Department Versus CAL FIRE (formerly CDF). Director Sanders even asked the staff to bring back that information at a later meeting. Interestingly, the State Fire Marshall’s website has the entire state mapped to show where the areas of State responsibility (CAL FIRE) and what are areas of Local responsibility (city and other fire departments). I could be wrong, but it seem that the state considers all of Cambria an SRA (State Responsibility Area).
Click this image to see the larger view of this image
Then there is this map of the LRA, SRA, FRA for san luis obispo county.
Click this image to see the larger view of this image
To view the fire risk of any address in the state, visit the special site set up to allow people to search by address the Fire Hazard Severity Zones.
None of this is meant to diminish the important job Chief Putney, Assistant Chief Miller or any of our firefighters. Actually, the conclusion I came to is that perhaps instead of “Pines by the Sea” we should be “Fire-Free by the Sea”. Tune in tomorrow for more on fire and safety.
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Last 5 posts by Amanda Rice
- Gail Robinette Chosen to Complete DeMicco's Term as CCSD Director on Unanimous Vote
- California Coastal Commission Unanimously Denied Army Corps Desal Tests
- Cambria CSD Agenda for November 27, 2011 Meeting Includes Water Conservation & New Tank Project
- Sunken Oil Tanker Off Cambria's Coastline Will Be Checked Again Soon
