2020 Volunteer Stories

Oak Hill Fire Safe Council

By Steve Gregorich

I serve on the board of the Oak Hill Area Fire Safe Council. The council has about 800 families and is one of about 12 such councils in El Dorado County. I chair the website committee for the council and find this volunteer work very satisfying for these reasons:

1. It is an important mission and what we do could well result in helping people save their own lives, the lives of their livestock and pets, and their homes.

2. People living in areas subject to wild fires are taking their situation very seriously following the horrendous videos of the Camp Fire and the destruction of the town of Paradise. We are all motivated to take action.

3. Revealing scientific studies of California wild fires are coming in on a weekly basis and informing councils like ours how to help educate our communities in very effective ways.

We cannot stop wild fires — they are part of nature. But we CAN help people learn what they must do to keep their homes from igniting during a wild fire and how and when to evacuate safely. During this coming wild fire season, I predict we will see some very different statistics regarding homes and lives saved. The website I manage tells the story better than I can. Here is the link: https://www.oakhillfiresafe.org

If any of my colleagues are looking for genuinely important and satisfying volunteer work — I encourage them to look into volunteering with a fire safe council. It does not matter whether their home is one of those in danger or whether they live within the boundaries of the fire safe council. Send me an email at ohafsc_webadmin@icloud.com if you have questions.