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Our Plan

 

Quail Hollow Firewise Community Wildfire Action Plan 2024-2026 (PDF)

 

The proposed Quail Hollow Area FireWise USA™ Site is located within the wildland-urban interface of the community of Ben Lomond, which is located in the San Lorenzo Valley of Santa Cruz County. Our neighborhood relies upon four volunteer fire departments and Cal Fire. In the past five years, our community has experienced five FEMA natural disasters (fire and floods) and in 2020 alone, 11 Severe Weather & Natural Disaster - NFIRS Series 800 incidents. Our proposed Firewise USA™ Site Community Wildfire Action Plan was developed through input received during the Summer 2023 Firewise Risk Assessment and a community survey conducted by the fire chiefs of the Ben Lomond and Zayante Fire Departments. The goal of this Plan is to develop and implement a strategy to organize our neighbors and local fire resources to reduce the risk of wildfires through outreach and education. Since commencing our efforts to form a FireWise site in the late spring of 2023, the Quail Hollow Area FireWise Organizing Group steering committee has been actively encouraging neighbors to participate in the HIZ home assessment program. Subsequently, five area neighbors have participated in this very beneficial service.

 

Year 1 (2024)

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Education and Outreach Goals

  1. Expand and update the emergency neighbor contact list. 

  2. Develop a plan to send regular e-mails to neighbors (at monthly during the fire season). Prospective topics: local fire department and FireWise community forums, go bag list, evacuation list, pointers to educational articles, etc.

  3. Host at least one educational/social activity for the neighborhood. Community Education Event will involve the Ben Lomond and Zayante Fire Departments and focus on topics, including: Defensible space, evacuation plans, lessons from Lahaina and CZU, HIZ home surveys, fire-safe landscaping, and shelter in place. COMPLETED August 17, 2024

  4. Provide links to web-based educational opportunities. e.g., links to Firewise Marin YouTube videos, NFPA information.

  5. Encourage our community to attend Santa Cruz County Firewise educational events, e.g., August CZU Fire anniversary event.

  6. Share links of emergency apps to join: WatchDuty, PulsePoint. Support training for the transition of the CruzAware system, which is replacing CodeRed.​

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Home Hardening Goals

  1. Encourage residents to obtain HIZ assessments from the Fire Safe Council of Santa Cruz County.

  2. Encourage removal of all fuel under and surrounding wood decking including wood lattice and gutter clearing and moving flammable materials such as firewood piles away from homes.

  3. Encourage neighbors to replace flammable materials (e.g. wood bark mulch) with a less flammable material (e.g. gravel) within the first five feet of homes.

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Defensible Space / Fuel Reduction Goals

  1. Organize neighbor work brigades to remove brush adjacent to common areas adjacent to roads.

  2. Encourage neighbors to clear all vegetation around and under propane tanks 10’ in all directions.

  3. Encourage weed whacking once rains have halted and the removal of tall, dry grass.

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Evacuation Planning (Ex. Preparedness and Routing) and Wildfire Preparedness

  1. Assist neighbors in understanding evacuation routes, best practices, and the alert systems for Santa Cruz County. 

  2. Develop a plan for communication amongst neighbors during emergencies.

  3. Identify vulnerable residents who would require assistance during an evacuation and assign a volunteer to those addresses to assist in the event of an evacuation.

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Year 2 (2025)

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Education and Outreach Goals

  1. Continue to improve the emergency neighbor contact list.

  2. Continue to send regular e-mails to neighbors. Prospective topics include educational materials, local events, brush-clearing parties, etc. Provide links to web-based educational opportunities related to fire and wildfire safety.

  3. Host at least one educational/social activity. Topic: Home Hardening Workshop. Additional Topic(s) to be determined. COMPLETED July 16, 2025

  4. Outreach to new neighbors, ensuring they understand living in a wildfire-risk area.

  5. Encourage our community to attend Santa Cruz County Firewise educational events.

  6. Continue to share links of emergency apps to join: WatchDuty, PulsePoint, and CruzAware.

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Home Hardening Goals

  1. Encourage residents to obtain HIZ assessments from the Fire Safe Council of Santa Cruz County.

  2. Continue to encourage gutter clearing and moving flammable materials such as firewood piles away from homes.

  3. Emphasize keeping areas underneath decks free from flammable material" or "yearly reminders for gutter cleaning.

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Defensible Space / Fuel Reduction Goals

  1. Organize neighbor work brigades to remove brush adjacent to common areas adjacent to roads.

  2. Continue to encourage neighbors to clear all vegetation around and under propane tanks 10’ in all directions. Continue to encourage weed whacking once rains have halted.

  3. Assist neighbors in organizing neighbor brush-clearing parties on their properties.

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Evacuation Planning (Ex. Preparedness and Routing) and Wildfire Preparedness

  1. Assist neighbors in understanding evacuation routes, best practices, and the alert systems for Santa Cruz County.

  2. Implement the plan for communication among neighbors developed in year 1. COMPLETED OCTOBER 2025

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Year 3 (2026)

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Education and Outreach Goals

  1. Continue to improve the emergency neighbor contact list.

  2. Continue to send regular e-mails to neighbors. Prospective topics include educational materials, local events, brush-clearing parties, etc. Provide links to web-based educational opportunities related to fire and wildfire safety.

  3. Host at least one educational/social activity. Topic: Landscape. Additional topic(s) to be determined.

  4. Organize a demonstration of how to use fire extinguishers or for Home Hardening.

  5. Encourage our community to attend Santa Cruz County Firewise educational events.

  6. Continue to share links of emergency apps to join: WatchDuty, PulsePoint, and CruzAware.

​

Home Hardening Goals

  1. Encourage residents to obtain HIZ assessments from the Fire Safe Council of Santa Cruz County.

  2. Continue to encourage gutter clearing and moving flammable materials such as firewood piles away from homes.

  3. Continue to encourage neighbors to replace flammable materials (e.g. wood bark mulch) with a less flammable material (e.g. gravel) within the first five feet of homes.

​

Defensible Space / Fuel Reduction Goals

  1. Organize neighbor work brigades to remove brush adjacent to common areas adjacent to roads.

  2. Continue to encourage neighbors to clear all vegetation around and under propane tanks 10’ in all directions. Continue to encourage weed whacking once rains have halted.

  3. Continue to assist neighbors in organizing neighbor brush-clearing parties on their properties.

​

Evacuation Planning (Ex. Preparedness and Routing) and Wildfire Preparedness

  1. Continue to assist neighbors in understanding evacuation routes, best practices, and the alert systems for Santa Cruz County.

  2. Continue to refine the plan for communication among neighbors developed in year 1 and implemented in year 2.

  3. Assuming there are operators in the neighborhood, develop a ham radio communications plan in the event that there is no cell service during an evacuation for licensed operators to assist residents with communications.

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