Why do we join CERT? One of the reasons is for our community, of course!
The Berryessa Highlands Fire Safe Council held their 2nd annual Community Wildfire Preparedness Day. The gathering was held at the new Berryessa Highlands volunteer fire station at 214 Steele Canyon Road from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM on Sunday, March 17th, 2019.
The BHFSC invited everyone from the community to attend this fun event with firefighter helmets and coloring books for the kids and lots of handouts and information of creating defensible space for homeowners.
Members of Cal Fire including Battalion Chief Aaron Latta attended along with our own Capell Valley Volunteer Fire Chief, Sandy Storck.
Evan Kilkus, with the BHFSC, did a live fire demonstration of the Vulcan Vent under the watchful eyes of the firefighters. Vulcan Vents will help prevent embers from entering the vents of your home and could save your house.
The BHFSC also announced they received a $60,000 grant to continue our tree and brush clearing in the Berryessa Highlands to make a defensible fire break around our small community. The BHFSC has worked long hours to get all the paperwork filled out correctly and on time and their hard work paid off with this grant.
Evan Kilkus led a discussion half way through the day with the community members that attended about lessons learned from the past Steele Canyon fire that destroyed neighbors homes. He talked about evacuation routes and procedures and what each homeowner can do to clear brush and limb trees on their properties. Cal Fire members joined in the discussion on best practices for defensible space.
Berryessa CERT Announcement
What's this? Newly formed Berryessa CERT announced that a group of local volunteers had recently graduated the January 2019 Napa County CERT Training Class and formed the Berryessa CERT Team.
I really enjoy educating our community about what we do and getting them excited to join us. - Debbie Thrasher
Berryessa CERT members wore their green vests and had a table at the Community Day with a go bag demonstration and information on how to join CERT. Community interest was high with several members signing up to join the next Napa County CERT training class. As many of our members said, this is why we do this - for our community!