Oakmont’s Semimonthly Newspaper
Town Hall on Wildfire nJackie Ryan
A virtual two-hour town hall meeting was as much a look back at the Sept. 27 Glass Fire as a glance to the future, with fire officials sharing the lessons learned to prepare for the potential of increasingly active fire seasons. By now, fire officials have carefully examined the events of that night, where at one point some feared all of Oakmont would be lost. When the Shady Fire blew up at 7:45 p.m. and merged with the Glass Fire, Scott Westrope, Santa Rosa’s interim fire chief, said all of Sonoma was upstaffed. “We were Westrope. prepared for a large-scale event,” and an hour later the evacuations started, a process he called a “big win that wasn’t perfect, but better than it had ever been.” By the time the fire broke into Oakmont, everyone was out of the way, and “our folks were fighting fire.” Westrope said the fight inside Oakmont was helped by new intelligence, a Cal Fire plane with nighttime capability that gave personnel a four-hour warning window. It was another weapon added to the “quiver,” where pilots were able to spot a fastmoving fire at daybreak in Howarth Park, one of the areas (along with Spring Lake) fire officials have identified as a big threat to Oakmont should flames move through Trione-Annadel State Park. “Because of that (flight capability) we were fortunate to slow it down,” he said. Westrope said early evacuations and call for personnel, the changes in risk assessment and awareness models and new technology since 2017 all worked to the advantage of citizens and firefighters. “I’m very proud of the fire fight that night. What Oakmont faced and what happened is the difference in perception and reality. …That any homes were lost was too many,” he said. “We are working on making it net zero. We will get there and we will get there together.” Paul Lowenthal, assistant fire marshal, said the department has become good at recovery, with debris and watershed task forces now in place. Oakmont owners who have fire-damaged trees can still apply for help with the new tree removal until Feb. 1 by filling out right-of-entry forms at www. Lowenthal. srcity.org/fire. He also encouraged owners to do home-hardening. “Our biggest problem was spot fires on the roofs and gutters,” he said. “Leave your garden hoses accessible and available to us.” Among new initiatives are action steps in the Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP). See town hall on page 4
www.oakmontvillage.com/news
January 23, 2021 • Volume 60, Number 2
Smartphones and Emergencies
Oakmont in a Pandemic, Part Two
Editor’s note: This is the first article in a series by the Oakmont Technology Learning Center in adapting technologies to senior living lifestyles.
Editor’s Note: This is part two of a story on Oakmont residents and how they are coping with the pandemic.
nTina Nerat
Every Oakmont resident should have a smartphone. They are a lifeline in an emergency. Every year, Oakmont faces emergency situations: fires, evacuations, public safety power shutoffs (PSPS), poor air quality from fires in other regions, and always the possibility of an earthquake. Smartphones provide capabilities beyond phone calls and text messaging. Smartphones are defined by Oxford Languages as “a mobile phone that performs many of the functions of a computer, typically having a touchscreen interface, Internet access, and an operating system capable of running downloaded applications.” Smartphone applications (apps) and Internet access give Oakmont residents access to information to be aware and stay safe. Flip-phones and Jitterbugs are not smartphones. Besides being able to make phone calls, send texts, and take photos/videos, smartphones provide quick access to Nixle alerts, PG&E outage/restoration information, air quality maps, fire/wind maps, fire/ police department alerts, Calfire updates, Sonoma County alerts, and access to information on the Internet. During stressful emergencies, having access See smartphones on page 3
Deadline Near to File for Board
nOakmont News Staff
The last date for members to self-nominate for this year’s OVA Board election is Friday, Jan. 29. Five of the seven board seats are up for election this year. Candidates will be announced at the Feb. 16 board meeting. To seek a place on the ballot, candidates must be Oakmont members in good standing, not be felons and not have served more than two board terms in sequence. Only one candidate is allowed per household. Letter of intent should be sent to Dawn McFarland at the OVA office. Pease include a resume and a 300-word candidate statement. McFarland’s email is dawn@oakmontvillage.com. The office mailing address is 6637 Oakmont Drive, Suite A, Santa Rosa, CA 95409. Candidate statements will be published in the Oakmont News and there will be a candidates’ event on Feb. 24. Member voting begins March 6 and ends at the annual meeting April 5. PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID SANTA ROSA, CA PERMIT NO. 323
nMarlena Cannon Tremont
Susan Chauncy says that despite COVID, she’s still pretty busy. She is chair of the OVA’s Los Guilicos Shelter Committee and liaison to the LG Advisory Committee that has representatives from the City, St. Francis Winery and other groups. She is also chairman of Oakmont Neighbors Together and Susan Chauncy. serves on the OVPC Golf Advisory Committee. “It’s fortunate that I play golf. It’s an outdoor sanctuary where I can stay connected socially while I get some exercise. I think COVID has forced us to reprioritize what’s important,” she says. “You realize it’s the connections with people that matter. It’s freeing in a lot of ways. There’s far less time for superficial interactions and we’ve been forced to decide who the important people are in our lives.” For Martin Johns, those people are the members of the Oakmont Hiking Club. Although park closings, air quality alerts and COVID have continuously changed plans, Johns has worked hard to keep the hikers going. The tri-nighter at Fort Bragg, for example, went on as scheduled coinciding perfectly with the Glass Fire evacuation for the 50 people who attended. He also asked Oakmont newcomers Gary and Bonnie Anderson to plan and lead a day trip to the 900-acre Sonoma Development Center. “We discovered that at one time, SDC had close to 30,000 residents,” says Gary. It was a fascinating to explore where these people worked and played. Hiking and Gary and Bonnie Andersen at the Hikers Fort Bragg learning about Sonoma tri-night trip. County keeps us fit and introduces us to new people. We couldn’t be happier.” Ann Bensen, Katy Carrell, Matt Zwerling and Pat Barclay took advantage of COVID downtime to launch Map Your Neighborhood, a neighbor-toneighbor emergency preparedness program. “It was a great opportunity to spend dedicated time to get See pandemic on page 9
Walk the Golf Courses
nOakmont News Staff
You may walk or walk your leashed dog on Oakmont’s golf course paths, but only before 7 a.m. and after 5 p.m. It’s prohibited at other times, when there’s danger from flying golf balls. Always stay off fairways and greens, and remember the doggie bags. Bicycles are never allowed on the golf courses.