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As Wildfires Worsen, Californians Harness Tech for Help

Reuters

   HEALDSBURG, CALIFORNIA - When a wildfire threatened Margie Hanselman's
   home in the northern California hills two years ago, the fire
   department dispatcher told her all the crews were already busy battling
   another blaze.

   "That's when I knew we were really on our own," she said. "I knew I had
   to do something differently for the next big emergency."

   So Hanselman, her neighbors and fire officials got together and turned
   to mobile phone apps, social media and communications technology to
   better share news, emergency updates and preparation advice on threats
   in their fire-prone community in Sonoma County wine country.

   This month's wind-driven Kincade fire, which burned nearly 80,000 acres
   (32,400 hectares) and destroyed more than 370 structures, stopped just
   short of Hanselman's driveway.

   This time, no one died, unlike two years ago, when the nearby Pocket
   fire and other windy wildfires north of the San Francisco Bay area
   killed 43 people.

   Joining forces to address the growing threat of living in a dry, rural
   forest area has made the community less stressed and anxious, said
   Priscilla Abercrombie, a nurse practitioner with a home on the region's
   Fitch Mountain.

   Hanselman and Abercrombie helped put together a local COPE team -
   Citizens Organized to Prepare for Emergencies - which links residents
   and authorities to share advice on everything from how to pack
   evacuation bags to how to find family during a fire.

   "I feel more empowered. I feel more in control," said Abercrombie. "I
   feel better about myself, and I feel better about my community."

   Typically, the COPE network might collect and share information such as
   where doctors live, where a resident might be house-bound or where
   swimming pools are located that could be used in fighting a fire,
   organizers said.

   It was modeled after an original COPE team started a few miles south in
   Santa Rosa after the deadly 2017 Tubbs fire that killed more than 20
   people, they said.

   'A huge difference'

   Healdsburg Fire Marshal Linda Collister said she has integrated the
   local COPE network with GroupMe, a mobile messaging app, to help share
   information that in the recent Kincade fire helped people evacuate
   early and smoothly.

   This time, no one died in the Kincade blaze.

   "We made a huge difference in this fire, compared to the last one,
   simply because we were ready for it," the fire marshall said.

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