By Jill Kinney, CastleGate Firewise Committee Chair
CastleGate includes 100 homes in the Piedmont Pines Neighborhood Association, spanning MONs 2, 3 and 5. After attending a Firewise introductory meeting in summer 2025, I connected with the three MON (Montclair Organized Neighborhood) leaders, Graham Sharpe (MON 5), Cindy Gullikson (MON 3) and Ronni Brega (MON 2), to form a new Firewise committee.
We held two events to educate residents on the program’s benefits and gauge support: an Evacuation Game, and an in-person and Zoom presentation led by Christophe Marcant. Interest was strong, so we worked with Joelle Fraser to plan the application process. We promoted it through emails, flyers to every household and neighborhood signs, and hosted an outdoor party on the Wildfire Risk Assessment deadline. We collected 50 assessments and submitted them June 4.
On June 29, a dozen residents joined the Oakland Fire Department and FireSafe Council leaders for a walkthrough of CastleGate to identify high-risk projects for our new Firewise Community. It was rewarding to see so many agencies involved. We submitted our 3-Year Action Plan in July and our annual Activity Tracker in September, and received approval on October 7.
The Oakland FireSafe Council, especially Joelle Fraser, has been remarkable; we couldn’t have done this without her leadership. Many CastleGate neighbors also attended the recent Evacuation Drill, reinforcing our commitment to a safer neighborhood.