The April Meeting for the Yolo County Fire Safe Council took place on Wednesday, April 26, 2023 at 4 PM to 5:30 PM via Zoom.
During the March 2023 meeting, there was a call to elect Chief Jack Snyder to fill the Vacant Vice Chair seat of the Yolo County Fire Safe Council. The vote for Vice Chair had to be postponed to the April Meeting due to a lack of a present quorum. During the April Meeting, the Fire Safe Council was able to elect Chief Jack Snyder as the new Vice Chair of the Yolo County Fire Safe Council. Congratulations to Chief Jack Snyder! Currently, the Chair of the Yolo County FSC is Jonathan Flora, a representative from the Capay Valley Emergency Response Auxiliary and Fire Safe Council. With Chief Snyder as the Vice Chair, the two regions in the high fire area of Yolo County are represented.
The Council heard reports from Yolo County Office of Emergency Services, Yolo County RCD, and Solano RCD and Fire Safe Council. Notably, Yolo County RCD gave an update on the CAL FIRE Wildfire Prevention Grant that the RCD submitted on behalf of the Fire Safe Council in early March 2023. Unfortunately, the entire grant amount of $5 million won’t be awarded in this grant cycle. However, CAL FIRE requested a smaller grant amount to fund for one year of work that would cover costs to get projects “shovel-ready” (i.e. planning, permitting, and compliance work).
Additionally, the RCD heard an update about the Yolo Prescribed Burn Association‘s last meeting on April 20th at Winters Fire Department. The meeting consisted of presentations on Permitting and Compliance and a deep dive into the PBA Gear Trailer, available to PBA members for prep and implementation of prescribed burns. The next Yolo PBA Meeting will take place on Thursday, May 18th at 4 PM at the Esparto Community Hall located at 17020 Yolo Ave, Esparto, CA. The May Meeting will feature a presentation and insights from California State Certified Burn Boss, Phil Dye, about the upcoming demonstration prescribed burn that is planned for early June 2023. This meeting will help interested members of the public, volunteers, and PBA members get a better understanding of burn objectives and logistics for the Yolo PBA’s first demonstration burn.
The Yolo County Fire Safe Council April Meeting concluded with a presentation from T-Mobile staff and engineers about connectivity and communication improvements to the high fire risk zones. Due to the nature of the presentation, that section has been edited out of the video recording.