2010 OSMA Annual Meeting – October 27th!

Please jot down this date on your calendar:  Wednesday, October 27th at 6:30, at the Fountaingrove Club.  It’s the Fountaingrove II OSMA Annual Meeting, and boy, do we have a great lineup of guests and discussion items for you to hear!

Pete Martin – Pre-Fire & Vegetation Management Planning, Sonoma County Fire and Emergency Services Dept. (author of Fountaingrove II 2004 Fire Mitigation Report and 2009 Community Wide Protection Program)

Scott Moon – Senior Fire Inspector, Fire Prevention Bureau, Santa Rosa Fire Department

Ray Moritz – Principal, Urban Forestry Associates (New Fountaingrove II Consultant for fire safety and forest management practices)

George Morris III – Battalion Chief, Fire Prevention, Cal Fire

Caerleon Safford – Executive Coordinator, Fire Safe Sonoma

Together, this group constitutes an amazing wealth of information and first-hand knowledge.  Our town hall-style interaction on October 27th promises to be a valuable opportunity to ask questions and become more informed residents of our high fire danger zone. Even with all the previous information the OSMA Board has gleaned over the past decade regarding fire safety and wildland management, the new facts and information we’ve learned from the variety of folks here just in the past year confirms how much more we need to learn!  

Did you know that the vast majority of homes lost in a wildfire burn because flying embers land in nearby landscape plantings and not because the flames from the fire are licking at the doorstep?

Did you know that there are several plants you should never plant next to your home in a high fire danger zone?  Plants like:  Juniper, Rosemary, Italian Cypress.  Fire authorities call plants like these “ember catchers.”  Yikes!!

Did you know that our open space forests are not in a healthy, natural state?  Do you know why?