Vegetation / Weed Abatement

Weed Abatement season is upon us, are you ready?

Weed abatement requirements will be enforced following the start of fire season

which is declared by the State Fire Marshal and usually begins around June 1 st

annually.

It shall be the responsibility of each owner/occupant to adhere to the 2019

California Fire Code, California Public Resource Code 4291 and Sonoma County

Chapter 13A requirements to maintain their properties from overgrowing, dead

or dying vegetation that increases risk of wildfire. All District property owners

have a shared responsibility to provide a fire safe environment and maintain their

property free of exterior fire hazards throughout the fire season.

For additional tips on wildfire preparedness for property owners in Sonoma

County, view Fire Safe Sonoma’s Ready, Set, Go booklet. Also READY FOR

WILDFIRE (https://www.readyforwildfire.org/)

Our community has been so supportive of the Fire District in recognizing our service, financial and consolidation challenges. Our staff is so appreciative of the local fundraising efforts and want to keep you informed about the use of these donated funds. We have two current Federal and State grants that required a percentage of District matching funds. We applied a portion of your contributions towards the purchase of new fire hose, hose hardware and appliances and for COVID-19 Personal Protective Equipment for responders on calls.

 

Will keep you updated on future uses and purchases. THANK YOU BODEGA BAY!

Statement from the Board of Directors, the Bodega Bay Fire Protection District 

The services provided by the Bodega Bay Fire Protection District are in serious jeopardy. The failure of Measure B has placed the District in a critical position. Its future existence is in question. Yesterday, our Board of Directors met in emergency session to face the stark reality presented by that failure and took the following actions: • The Board asked its counsel to prepare a declaration of Fiscal Emergency for passage at its next regular meeting. • The Board directed its Employee Relations committee to begin the legal process to lay off employees. • And, the Board asked counsel to research how to curtail services to areas that do not contribute to the costs of providing those services. The Supervisors put Measure B on the ballot to raise the funding needed to facilitate the consolidation of the District with the Sonoma County Fire District. The consolidation will stabilize and make sustainable BBFPD which provides the essential Paramedic/ambulance response and rescue service for a large portion of West County including the tourist impacted Sonoma Coast. The consolidation will reduce taxes while significantly enhancing and stabilizing life saving services. Without County funding, there will be no consolidation. The consolidation was approved by the Local Agency Formation Commission and resoundingly approved by the voters in the District. But, it could not be completed without financial support from the County. That support never came. Without consolidation, the District will fail. The failure of Measure B has raised serious questions as to whether BBFPD will survive in a manner that will allow it to provide its life saving services to those who live at or visit the beautiful but dangerous Sonoma County coast. For years, it has been clear that the parcel taxpayers of Bodega Bay, a small village, could not continue to carry the entire financial burden placed on the District by the demands of those who do not contribute to the cost of readiness for the services they receive. 06 Mar 2021 1 For more than a year, the Board of Directors has made clear to all who would listen that, without outside aid to bring about the consolidation, the agency might fail. Those warnings were loud and clear. There was no response. The agency is in critical condition and facing the crisis that both it, and the County’s Financial Analyst had predicted. As you can see, if you follow the link below, the County’s own financial analysis supports the fact that the District has done everything within its abilities to effectively manage the taxpayers money and ensure high quality service. The analysis clearly identifies the problem while providing clear direction to the Board of Supervisors regarding the funding necessary to stabilize the organization. The lifeblood of any business is its employees. For a Fire/EMS agency, like Bodega Bay, to provide the life saving services demanded by the area, it must have highly skilled firefighters who are also experienced Paramedics. Their job is to rescue and stabilize patients and to keep them alive during the long emergency transports to Santa Rosa’s hospitals. There is a national shortage of Paramedics. There is a shortage of Paramedics in Sonoma County — including in the agencies that pay better and are more stable than Bodega Bay. Prior to the failure of Measure B, Bodega Bay had lost 11 Paramedics in 8 years. Almost all had left because they were young, wanted to raise a family, and wanted jobs where they did not have to worry, year to year, about whether their employer would survive. An unstable District and the fact that they are the lowest paid Fire/EMS paramedics, in the Sonoma County agencies that provide Advanced Life Support, contributed to the mass exodus. We understand that and have worked to remedy the situation by seeking the County’s support for consolidation. Going into Tuesday’s election, BBFPD had one open Paramedic slot. With the future viability of our agency in question, we were having a hard time filling that slot. Paramedics did not want to apply for a job that had a questionable future when they could apply for many jobs that did not. The day after Measure B failed, we lost another Paramedic — an experienced Paramedic who had moved here from out of state because he wanted to serve in an area that responded to emergencies on land and sea, on highways and over cliffs. From Day 1, he proved to be a valuable member of our staff. One week before the failure of Measure B we celebrated one of his calls. He and his crew had saved the life of a non-resident who was found “dead” in cardiac arrest. There is no better moment in EMS than saving a life that was lost. That euphoria did not last long. With the failure of Measure B, he felt forced to leave. In his words “the failure of Measure B was the tipping point”. He wanted a stable job. He could not have that life in a District that lived year to year. Without consolidation, he did not see a future with BBFPD. And, he did not believe that the County cared enough about what he was doing to ensure the stability of the District. He is not alone in that belief. We have been notified by another recent Paramedic hire that he is applying to other agencies. The lifeblood of our Fire/EMS District is our employees. If we cannot stabilize our District through the consolidation with SCFD, we will fail. 06 Mar 2021 2 With the failure of Measure B, we are bleeding out. Our lifeblood, our employees are leaving us. Without immediate help from the County, we will fail. Like the critical patients we serve, we cannot wait. We need help, now. Talking of a “transfusion” in months or a year, will not stem the flow. And, if it is not stemmed, like our patients, we will die. Surprisingly, while we waited for an immediate, concrete offer of help from our County, which did not come, we received offers of help from two very unexpected sources — the strongest opponents to Measure B — Dan Drummond from the Sonoma County Taxpayers Association and representatives of the Tourism Industry. Both the Measure’s opponents made clear to us that they did not oppose us — that they understood our plight and the importance of our unique role in the coastal safety net. They opposed what they perceived to be other flaws in the measure. They told us that had the measure been exclusively for BBFPD, they would not have opposed it. That measure is behind us. There is no looking back. This is not the time to argue over its wisdom or why it failed. Or to let hurt feelings from the campaign fester. Friday morning, Chief Heine of the Sonoma County Fire District and Assistant Chief Herzberg of the Bodega Bay Fire Protection District, met with representatives of the tourism industry. They found common ground and pledged to build a coalition to work with the Board of Supervisors to stabilize Bodega Bay and finalize its consolidation with Sonoma County Fire. Our opponents are now our partners. They stepped up, immediately. We respectfully request that our Board of Supervisors do the same. Hope is not a solution. That is why we are planning, proactively, for the worst and are taking the drastic steps outlined at the top of this statement. For a deeper understanding of the financial crisis, please see the report from Sonoma County’s Financial Analyst: https://bbfpd.org/home/bodegabayfire/Measure%20B%20info/ CCE12122020%20bb%20by%20the%20numbers.pdf) Contacts: Liz Martin — President of the Board of Directors lmartin@bbfpd.org 707.239.6865 06 Mar 2021 3 Charlie Bone — Vice President of the Board of Directors cbone@bbfpd.org 707.529.7958 Steve Herzberg — Assistant Chief, PIO, the Bodega Bay Fire Protection District sherzberg@bbfpd.org 707.309.4572