LAKE COUNTY
Lake County Women’s Civic Club News
Always a proud moment swearing in new members…this month, Carol Costa, sponsored by Sheryn Hildebrand and Judy Whitfield, sponsored by Debbie Strickler, were sworn in by our membership chair Sharon Leckbee.
Then we had the honor of presenting a check to Leslie Firth and Loretta Ray of Clear Lake Gleaners, an organization that we have collected canned and dry goods for at every meeting as far back as anyone can remember. The ladies came to speak with us and share news about new distribution sites around the lake and the challenges they are facing in making the transition to a new site at the old worm farm on Finley Rd East. Fun fact that they shared with us…the average age of their group of 130 volunteers is 75! Thats some Senior Citizens getting things done! We are wishing them all the best.
We are also getting very excited about our upcoming annual Mad Hatters Luncheon and Fundraiser. This year the theme is “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” We have been collecting some amazing sports memorabilia for our live and silent auctions.
Would love to hear from you if you have game tickets or memorabilia of your own that you might like to contribute
to this incredible fundraiser.
LCWCC donates all that they collect to city beautification, scholarships, high school sports and fine arts, senior projects, children’s activities and historical education on a regular basis and every few years when our investment account gets fat. We have been able to donate $10,000 to groups like Lake County Veterans Honor Guard, Lake County Friends of the Library, Valley Fire Victims, and most recently, Northshore Youth Club.
If you think you would like to be a part of this group of fun-loving movers and shakers, we would encourage you to call Sharon Leckbee at 707-900-1486.
We meet on the first Friday of every month, except July and August, at Riviera Hills Country Club Restaurant at 11 am or so, for a little chat time before our meeting at 11:30. Sharon will be happy to include you in our reservation if you will be so good as to call at least a week in advance!! We would love to meet you.
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LAKE COUNTY
Public comment period now open for proposed FHSZ in the LRA mapping
The Lake County Community Risk Reduction Authority (RRA) Joint Powers Authority (JPA), in partnership with the County of Lake and the Cities of Clearlake and Lakeport encourages all residents within Local Responsibility Areas (LRA) of the Fire Protection Districts in the County to review and submit public comment.
The Office of the State Fire Marshal (OSFM) is required to classify lands within State Responsibility Areas (SRA) into Fire Hazard Severity Zones (FHSZ) of Moderate, High, and Very High fire hazard severity based on consistent statewide criteria and based on the severity of fire hazard that is expected to prevail in those areas. In April of 2024, the FHSZ map for the state of California was adopted for the SRA.
Both the OSFM and CAL FIRE have now classified, evaluated, and recommended updates to the 2011 FHSZ in the LRA and released updated maps and now invite the public to submit comments to their own jurisdictions. The maps can be reviewed in person at all local planning departments and viewed online at Ready.LakeCountyCA.gov by following the link for Local Responsibility Area Fire Hazard Severity Zone Update and select your jurisdiction (County of Lake, City of Clearlake, or City of Lakeport).
Comments on the LRA map can be submitted to the corresponding LRA jurisdiction area, including the City of Clearlake, City of Lakeport, and the County of Lake. The City Councils and Board of Supervisors must adopt the updated maps by ordinance before July 1, 2025. Per Government Code 51175, local governments cannot adopt a map that lowers the FHSZ rating designated by OSFM, they can only adopt a map as presented or that raises the rating to a higher threat.
For more information on the maps, visit: https://osfm.fire.ca.gov/what-we-do/community-wildfire-preparedness-and-mitigation/fire-hazard-severity-zones
Submit your comments to:
- City of Clearlake: 10450 Olympic Drive, Clearlake. Email comments that apply within the City of Clearlake to: info@clearlake.ca.us or call Alan Flora, City Manager at (707) 994-8201
- City of Lakeport: 225 Park Street, Lakeport. Email comments that apply within the City of Lakeport to: admininfo@cityoflakeport.com or call Kevin Ingram, City Manager at (707) 263-5615 x102
- County of Lake: 255 N Forbes St, Lakeport, Third Floor, Community Development Department. Email comments for County Jurisdiction areas to: ResourcePlanning@lakecountyca.gov or call Mireya Turner, Director at (707) 263-2382
Background
After the devastating Oakland Hills fire of 1991, Assembly Bill 337 was passed and calls for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) to evaluate fire hazard severity in the Local responsibility Area (LRA) as well as State Responsibility Area (SRA).
Each zone includes relatively homogeneous lands and classifications are based on fuel loading, slope, fire weather, and other relevant factors present, including areas where winds have been identified by the department as a major cause of wildfire spread.
The maps evaluate “Hazard,” not “Risk.” Hazard is based on physical conditions that create expected fire behavior over a 50-year period without considering risk (the short-term modifications such as creating defensible space, fuel breaks, fuel reduction projects, and ignition resistant building construction). The map is like flood zone maps, where lands are described in terms of the probability level of a particular area being inundated by floodwaters, and not specifically prescriptive of impacts.
The maps were last updated in 2024 when CAL FIRE updated the FHSZs for the entire State Responsibility Area (SRA). Between 2008- 2011 the department worked with local governments to make recommendations of the Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones within Local Responsibility Area (LRA). This will be the first update to the LRA maps since they were developed.
What is new for this update is the incorporation of climate data. A 2-kilometer grid of climate data covering the years 2003-2018 has been used in this update. The previous model used stock weather inputs across the state to calculate wildland fire intensity scores. The updated model will adjust fire intensity scores based on the most extreme fire weather at a given location considering temperature, humidity, and wind speed. In addition, ember transport has been modeled based on local distributions of observed wind speed and direction values instead of using a generic buffer distance for urban areas adjacent to wildlands.
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