- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
Konocti Fire Safe Council forms to help protect Kelseyville communities
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — A group of Kelseyville residents determined to find ways to protect their communities against wildland fire have formed a new organization that has received an important donation from the district supervisor.
The Konocti Fire Safe Council on Tuesday received a $10,000 donation from District 5 Supervisor Jessica Pyska. The funds came from supervisors’ discretionary cannabis funds.
“For many years now, homeowners associations in the Kelseyville-area communities known as the Rivieras have been showing strong leadership, and working effectively to reduce the risk of wildfire,” Pyska said in a statement issued by the County Administrative Office. “Establishment of the Konocti Fire Safe Council brings valuable coordination to these efforts, and better positions these communities to access grant funding in the future.”
“Everyone in the county, by and large, agrees the Rivieras would be the worst place for a rural fire to occur. There are many homes, with a lot of local fuels, and limited access and firefighting capabilities,” said Konocti Fire Safe Council President Kathy Andre.
Council Treasurer Bill Groody told Lake County News the group officially formed in June, but that it has actually been meeting a year or longer. It grew out of an effort to get a new firehouse in the Soda Bay corridor as a means of lowering insurance rates and increasing response times.
He said that morphed into Measure A, which the Kelseyville Fire Protection District put before voters late last year. In addition to the firehouse, the measure was meant to increase staffing and equipment.
However, the measure failed. As a result, Groody said the new group grew out of community members in four homeowners associations — Clear Lake Riviera, Buckingham, Riviera West and Riviera Heights — asking how they could improve safety conditions in the Soda Bay corridor without the measure.
Thus the Konocti Fire Safe Council was born. In addition to Groody, the board includes President Kathy Andre, Vice President Phil Hartley, and members Cindy Jassar, John Nowell, Rian Sommerfield and Kathy Sylar.
Its coverage area runs along Clear Lake State Park and follows the lakeshore, extends down to Point Lakeview Road then back along Highway 29, up along Kelsey Creek in Kelseyville and Gaddy Lane to the state park. Groody said they also are including the western side of Mount Konocti, where a fire could potentially start and come over the mountain.
Groody said they are trying to bring together not just the four homeowners associations but also representatives from areas outside the associations’ boundaries.
The council seeks to increase community wildfire preparedness and survivability through education, project and resource development, evacuation readiness and hazardous fuel reduction.
When the group formed, Groody said each homeowners association agreed to contribute $1,000 a year. When Pyska saw those and other fundraising efforts were underway, Groody said she offered the discretionary funds. “We’re very thankful for that.”
Thanks to that funding, “We have our core operating expenses taken care of for the next three years,” Groody said, noting they’re operating on a “modest” budget.
That strong financial start will allow them to focus on fundraising and pursuing grants for bigger efforts, he said.
Groody said the group plans to coordinate and work with other community groups and local government agencies to improve wildfire safety around their communities.
He said they are still in the formative stages, getting the group off the ground and preparing to develop a social media presence and website.
They plan to pursue grants and other funding to carry out a number of projects, including working on evacuation routes, Groody said, and removing brush and dead tree clearing along the Soda Bay corridor, which are critical.
The situation on Soda Bay road is very urgent with regard to clearing, he said.
They’ve looked at options for brush clearing, including goats. “Every goat that’s available is out there eating now,” Groody said.
They also want to identify the 100 most hazardous trees in the area in order to have them removed. Groody pointed out that the board, at the request of Pyska, declared a tree mortality emergency.
He pointed out that in the past two and a half weeks there have been three fires in the council’s coverage area.
“The urgency is there,” he said.
The No. 1 priority, said Groody, is coordinating to use grant funds given to the county by Cal Fire to improve Soda Bay Road as an evacuation route.
“I think we’re going to be heavily involved in working on this evacuation plan,” he said.
With the county being short-staffed, Groody said the homeowners’ associations may end up being fiscal agents to help move that project along.
They’re also looking at ways to free up some of the assessment funding covering Clear Lake Riviera, Buckingham, Riviera West and Riviera Heights, as well as lots adjacent to them within County Service Area No. 23 that went into effect in 2019.
The one-time assessment, the proceeds of which were meant to be used for vegetation management, followed approval by voters in the associations and the Board of Supervisors based on a plan put forward by then-District 5 Supervisor Rob Brown.
To reach the council, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
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