Becoming Recognized

April 11th, 2019 - kicked off with a community meeting to gauge interest in becoming a Firewise Community

May 1st - DCSSFWC meets at Earle Jamieson School

June - Application submitted and we are now officially Deer Creek Southside Firewise Community (In Training)

July 25th - Fundraiser to self fund Hazard Assessment

September 6th - Pam Esmon and Lorraine Gervais representing Deer Creek walked through the area with Dario Davidson, Assessment Leader with Fire Safe Council to complete the Hazard Assessment.   Sam Goodspeed, Nevada City Fire Chief also participated in the completion of the assessment.  

September 28th - Hazard Assessment and Action Plan submitted to Firewise USA for final Certificate of Recognition!  Recognition is currently taking anywhere from 1-3 months to process.

Click here to see results of Hazard Assessment

Click here to see the Deer Creek Southside Firewise Community Action Plan

October 16th - Quarterly DCSSFWC Meeting  held to discuss Hazard Assessment outcomes.  

December 24th, 2019 - Received Certificate of Recognition!   It's official!  

We received our updated Certificate of Recognition for all our work completed in 2021!   Highlights include:    

1. Monitoring and reporting of illegal campfires along Deer Creek.   Resulting in Nevada City Emergency Proclamation at the peak of fire season. 

2. Awarded a $500.00 grant from NFPA for our Home Hardening Resource Fair on May 1st, 2021.    First Community gathering during COVID -all COVID protocol followed for the safety our our residents.  

3. Creation of Deer Creek SouthSide FWC Summer and Fall Fact Sheet.  

4. 2 DCSS Committee Members participate in the Nevada City Fire Safety Advisory Committee.

5. 1 DCSS Committee Member participates in Deer Creek Canyon Committee.

What becoming "Recognized" means to our community?

1. Many of our homeowners have experienced a "non-renewal" of their fire insurance.   Letting your insurance agency know that your neighborhood is a certified Firewise USA community has resulted in small discounts for other communities.  

2. We will submit  "shovel ready" projects to the Coalition of Firewise Communities which can help us with funding:   "Shovel Ready Projects - Checklist. Gives you a basic idea of what's needed if your neighborhood has a large project that requires funding to get it done. "Shovel ready" means that if it were to get funded, you could almost immediately put a shovel in the ground and start, because you've already figured out (and obtained) the permits or permissions needed, gotten bids, etc. Helps document your project so that it can be "bundled" with other projects in grant-funding proposals by the Fire Safe Council."

3. Bringing our community together will only make us stronger in the event of a wildfire.    We want to create a system where we are looking out for all of our neighbors in a time of need.