David Lee, resident co-lead, had this to share about their group’s experience with becoming a Firewise USA® recognized site:
The Grand View Firewise Community is made up of 83 single family homes and townhouses along Grand View Drive, Doris Place, Dorothy Place, Live Oak and Westview Place –
all of which burned to the ground in the 1991 Oakland Firestorm.
While most homeowners and residents are post-fire, a few who live on the street lost their homes in the 1991 fire.
In 2024, David Lee, a father of two who bought a home on Grand View in 2014, first suggested the formation of a Firewise Community. He reached out to neighbor Fred Booker to help with getting additional neighbors interested. Fred & his wife Blythe Mickelson lost their Spyglass Hill home to the fire, rebuilt, and then bought a fire lot on Grand View in 1999 before building their Grand View home in 2006.
As all homes on Grand View Drive were rebuilt after the fire, most (if not all) homes meet some of the Firewise home hardening standards such as Class A roofs, noncombustible siding, and multi-pane windows, so our pitch to neighbors was to ensure safe evacuation routes.
Grand View Drive is a full two lanes wide with no parking on the uphill side of the road; however, there are no shoulders, and vegetation growing in empty lots often encroaches on the roadway, thus hindering traffic.
We want to work with these lot owners and homeowners to keep the roadway clear of vegetation and, in the case of two groves of eucalyptus at either end of our neighborhood, to keep the flammable debris to a minimum.
Neighbors on Grand View Drive have been holding annual gatherings to foster a sense of community since 2008.
In 2024, a small gathering occurred at the home of Iren Suhami with neighbors Anne & Tom O’ Shea, Deborah Myers, Paul Clark, Mark Sondheimer, Blythe Mickelson, Fred Booker and David Lee to measure the interest level in a Firewise community. Anne O’Shea enlisted the help of Joelle Fraser of Oakland Firesafe Council to give the neighborhood group a talk on what it means to be a Firewise Community. Joelle has since walked us through the entire process, offering advice and help as needed. Getting positive feedback from the group, the topic of forming a Firewise Community was presented at our annual potluck attended by about 50 people, representing 26 homes. Frank Kelly of the Kaiser School Neighborhood Firebreak was present to give us some feedback on the process of creating a Firewise Community and answered our questions. There was immediate interest, especially amongst homeowners who had been on the street for over ten years.
Getting newer residents involved has been a harder sell.
However, we continue to reach out to our neighbors and, with the recent events in Los Angeles and the continuing insurance crisis, there is more and more interest in being involved. The whole process has been a great way for us to educate ourselves about our wildfire risks, while learning practical ways to lessen them. An added benefit is that Grand View Firewise borders the northern boundary of the Kaiser School Neighborhood Firebreak, thus creating a much larger Firewise Community.
The greatest benefit, however, is getting to know and working with our neighbors to create a safer neighborhood while forming a greater sense of community.
The (NFPA) Firewise USA® recognition program was designed to help residents learn about wildfire risks and provide a self-directed, collaborative framework for neighbors to work together to reduce these risks by engaging in fuel reduction and home hardening activities.
Oakland Firesafe Council is encouraging Oakland neighborhood groups to join the growing network of more than 1,500 Firewise USA® sites from across the nation by taking ownership in preparing and protecting their homes and communities against the threat of wildfire. LEARN MORE