Berkeley FireSafe Council - Our Motto "Before It's Too Late"

More Information on Berkeley FireSafe Council and Our Work

Berkeley FireSafe Council (BFSC) is a community not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization with the primary mission of preventing the next catastrophic fire in Berkeley.  We also support our public officials, advocate for needed public action, inform residents and public officials, and support preparedness and training. We also coordinate with other fire safety groups. BFSC's President is a member of the East Bay Wildfire Alliance, which is comprsed of the leaders of all non-profit fire safety groups in Oakland, Berkeley, Claremont Canyon, El Cerrito, Kensington and Richmond.  The Alliance is an advisor to the East Bay Wildfire Coalition, a group of government representatives in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties working together to advocate and coordinate wildfire risk reduction strategies.  BFSC is a member of the California Fire Safe Councils, non-profits throughout the state at the city and county levels dedicated to fire safety.  CA Fire Safe Council was formed in 1993 by CAL FIRE.  BFSC is part of the Hillside Association of Berkeley (HAB), which was formed over 30 years ago to preserve the unique nature of our community and its interests. 

Our motto “Before It's Too Late” reflects the fact that, despite significant efforts by the City of Berkeley, residents and public land managers, the threat of a catastrophic fire in Berkeley remains largely unmitigated. Effective mitigation will require the removal of all or most of the hazardous fuel in the Berkeley and Oakland hills and in Tilden Park, primarily eucalyptus, which constitutes the vast majority of hazardous fuel and is the most dangerous. Eliminating this risk will require cleaning up the understory of all the eucalyptus groves in Berkeley, in the UC Berkeley Hill Campus, and in Tilden Park, and then replacing all or most of the eucalyptus and other hazardous trees with non-hazardous, non-invasive species. This will be a significant task requiring the commitment of all large landowners. Yet, it can be done, and with less money and more quickly than most believe to be possible. We need to remove the fuel that will destroy much of Berkeley - before it's too late. 

In addition to removing hazardous fuel, it is essential that a significant majority of residents in the High and Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones implement Defensible Space and Home Hardening measures. Defensible space measures will be required by the fire code and will require removing vegetation from the first five feet from the home (Zone Zero) in the Very High Fire Hazard Severity Severity Zone. Home Hardening will be largely voluntary, but is equally important, the most important element of which is screening vents and gutters with fine mess screening. Without BOTH widespread Defensible Space and Home Hardening mitigation, embers from a wildfire will ignite enough homes to trigger an urban conflagration like those in Altadena and Pacific Palisades. 

There have been two catastrophic fires in the last 100 years, the 1923 Berkeley Fire and the 1991 Tunnel Fire. Both fires became catastrophic partly due to the presence of the eucalyptus trees. The Tunnel Fire killed 25 people and destroyed 3,400 homes. The 1923 fire destroyed 600 homes, a number that would be several times larger today due to increased density. Both fires would have been far worse without favorable shifts in the wind. They could have burned all the way to the Bay.

Our principal focus since 2019 has been fuel reduction. We have removed over 100 tons of eucalyptus debris in the understory of 10 groves among the homes in the Berkeley Hills. We later worked with the City's Disaster and Fire Safety Commission to recommend to the City Council to complete the eucalytus understory clean up on private property with public funds from Measure FF. The City Council passed a resolution allocating $1 million for this purpose and the clean up has since been largely completed by the Berkeley Fire Department (BFD). More recently, we removed 130 blue gum eucalyptus trees from 20 private properties with a grant from PG&E and community donations; then implemented a restoration of nine of the properties with grants from the UC Berkeley Chancellor, the Berkeley Rotary Club and community donations. More trees were planted than had been removed in the restoration area. We continue to seek funds for hazardous fuel removal, including eucalyptus trees, and restoratgion where needed. 

Please let us know if you have any questions by sending an email to info@firesafeberkeley.org