Ondulando Firewise Community
Are you located in the Ondulando Community?
Our Firewise site is all homes accessible by Via Plaza and Colina Vista, from Foothill Road. Including the homes accessed by Foothill Road directly, between the Church of the Foothills, and La Fonda Drive.
If you are inside these boundaries, we would like to hear from you! Please email us at Ondulando.firewise@gmail.com for more information on how you can benefit from being part of the Ondulando Firewise Community. Becoming Firewise recognized, and maintaining this recognition, is a community effort.
Click here to sign-up for a FREE Home Hardening Assessment
The Ventura Regional Fire Safe Council is our partner in providing information on how to make our homes more fire-resistant. The VRSFC website includes links to sign up for workshops and individual, in-person, free home-hardening assessments. The on-site assessments are fully voluntary and provide individual homeowners with recommendations to improve resiliency. Assessments are extremely useful as an action plan and are highly encouraged, providing homeowners with information on what vulnerabilities exist on their property. The results of the assessment are entirely private; neither the Fire Department nor any insurance entity will receive notice or details of the assessment. Please visit the VRSFC website to get started: https://venturafiresafe.org/.
Ventura Regional Fire Safe Council (VRFSC) and Ondulando Firewise Community will host a FREE CHIPPING EVENT May 28-30 for Ondulando residents ONLY to help homeowners reduce vegetation prior to the City of Ventura June 1 deadline. Stay tuned for details on how to sign up!
Pre-registration with VRFSC will be required. You will be required to sign a liability waiver. You will be given mandatory directions on how to stack the branches and shrubs so that the cut end is facing the street. You will be asked to estimate how much vegetation will be chipped (wheelbarrow, truck load, dumpster load, etc.). You can also choose whether you want to keep chipped material for mulch or want to have the truck take away the chips. There will be helpful videos on the sign-up website to tell residents how to stack the vegetation and to answer frequently asked questions.
The limit to how much you can get chipped is a pile that is 25 ft long x 4 ft wide x 4 ft high. Any wooden-stemmed shrub, branch, tree can be chipped with a limit of about 7 inches in diameter. The chipper will not take grass, succulents, weeds, agaves, or any fibrous plant such as palms. Residents will be asked to sign up before May 24th in order to determine how many work days are needed for the project. Residents don't have to be home the day the chipper will be there.
Breaking News!!
On July 14, 2023, the Ondulando Community's application was approved, officially joining Los Robles Estates, Matilija Canyon Properties, and the Deer Creek Community Association as active FIREWISE USA recognized sites in Ventura County!
New Announcements
Ventura Regional Fire Safe Council (VRFSC) has received grant funding to continue no-cost home wildfire assessments to residents through 2024. Don’t wait until it’s too late! Sign up above.
Ondulando Firewise Community, in collaboration with VRFSC, is planning a free CHIPPING EVENT this Spring. The chipper truck will come to your house. Stay tuned for more information!
Do you have an interest or expertise in emergency response, wildfire preparedness, liaising with city agencies, or communications and social media? We need your help! Please check out "Neighborhood Teams" below to learn more about team activities and sign up to join a team! You can also call Nancy O’Rode at (805)701-7837 for any questions regarding teams.
The VRFSC has decided to do Zoom workshops on the third Friday of the month for any groups in Ventura County who are interested in forming a Firewise Group. Registration is necessary to get the zoom information.
Record your hours!
Use this form to tell us about your activities, so we can track our community investment and reach our goals!
The reporting link is quick and easy to use, and it places a premium on privacy. You do not have to provide a phone number, a name, or even any receipts. Any information that you do share will not be made public. The only purpose of the database is to enable us to aggregate community efforts and monitor activity at the community level to comply with the program requirements for widespread community access and participation.
Click here to check out CalFire’s comprehensive Homeowners checklist for how to make your home fire-safe.
Ondulando Action Plan 2023 - 2025.pdfView the Ondulando 3-year Action Plan
Ondulando_Community Wildfire Risk Assessment_FINAL.pdfView the Ondulando Community Wildfire Risk Assessment
Completed with help from Ventura Fire Department!
The Ventura Regional Fire Safe Council is our partner in providing information on how to make our homes more fire-resistant. The VRSFC website includes links to sign up for workshops and individual, in-person, free home-hardening assessments. The on-site assessments are fully voluntary and provide individual homeowners with recommendations to improve resiliency. Assessments are extremely useful as an action plan and are highly encouraged, providing homeowners with information on what vulnerabilities exist on their property. The results of the assessment are entirely private; neither the Fire Department nor any insurance entity will receive notice or details of the assessment. Please visit the VRSFC website to get started: https://venturafiresafe.org/.
News
VIEW ONDULANDO FIREWISE MEDIA COVERAGE AT THE LINKS BELOW!
VC Star 6/23/23 VC Star VC Reporter 8/31/23 VC Reporter Breeze 9/6/23 Breeze
Neighborhood Teams
Interested in joining a Neighborhood Team?
Click here for more information about our five Neighborhood teams.
Please send an email to ondulando.firewise@gmail.com!
BEST PRACTICES TO INCREASE RESILIENCE TO WILDFIRE
According to fire professionals, preparedness drastically improves probability of home survival. Embers are responsible for the majority of wildfire spread and they have a way of finding the weakest spot in your home.
These are impactful actions that you can take to increase your home’s chance of surviving:
✓ Rescreen soffit vents, roof, wall, and foundation vents using 1/8-inch non-combustible screening for increased resilience to embers.
✓ Remove leaf litter, pine needles and other debris from roof and gutters throughout the year.
✓ Clear combustible items, including non-fireproof furniture and vegetation within a five-foot perimeter around your home.
✓ Consider installing non-combustible gates and fences if they are within 5 feet of your home.
EMERGENCY RESPONSE UPDATE
We recently met with Mack Douglass, Emergency Services Manager for Ventura City Police Dept., and Brett Reed, Ventura Fire Marshall, to ask how we can best work together. They encouraged community members to sign up for VC Alert and VCEmergency.com. Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) works without electricity and will go to cell phones or other mobile devices. If there is no power, the City will use Hi-Lo sirens to alert citizens.
Residents should also prepare Go Bags and create emergency contact and evacuation plan lists. The Police Dept. oversees evacuation, while the Fire Dept. is responsible for fighting fires. There are two stages: (1) Evacuation Warning (get ready to go!) and (2) Evacuation Order (you must evacuate immediately.) People who decide not to evacuate take their lives into their own hands. The evacuation map for Ondulando is being reviewed to address issues with efficiently getting cars out and emergency vehicles in. We were invited to provide feedback from community residents.
Click on best practices for wildfire preparation and evacuation guides, attached below:
TEAM UPDATES
Our Water Assurance and Local Government Liaison Team had a productive meeting with City Water representatives about additional protocols implemented to ensure water supply for the next fire event. The meeting was also attended by our City Councilmember Doug Halter. Ventura Water shared maps of the water system and storage tanks in Ventura. They also described how back-up generators are maintained. Both parties (Ondulando Firewise and City Water) were eager to learn from each other. A tour will be given to our team to explain how the emergency process works and where new generators are installed. Ventura Water also stated that homeowners should not irrigate their property during red flag events because water evaporates in strong winds and irrigation can rapidly drain the tanks leaving less water available for fighting fires.
Click here to read the water team's full report.
FAQs
1. What is the goal of Ondulando Firewise Community? To increase the community’s resilience to wildfires by having neighbors work together to protect their homes, reduce vegetation, and prepare for the next wildfire.
2. Does it cost money to join the effort? No! There are no fees and no expectations for donations.
3. What are the advantages? The biggest benefit is peace of mind - you’ll be reducing fire risk on your property while creating a safer community for all residents. You may also be eligible for savings on homeowners’ insurance.
4. What is home hardening? Implementing fire-prevention measures to make your home more resistant to wildfires, including creating a defensible space around your home and screening your vents to prevent embers from entering your home.
5. How do I get a no-cost home assessment? Go to the link to the Ventura Regional Fire Safe Council website (VRFSC) above.
6. How are recommendations in the assessment enforced? Recommendations are completely voluntary. They are simply guidelines to increase the security of your home.
7. How can I get involved as a volunteer? The most important thing you can do is click on the link above ("Record Your Hours") to record fuel reduction and home hardening activities that you’ve completed on your property (see #9 below). This is a requirement for OFC to maintain its standing as a Firewise community. You can also get more involved by joining a team (see #10 below).
8. What can I do as a homeowner to contribute to the Firewise effort? You can get a no-cost assessment for recommendations on how to harden your home (see #4 and #7 above), and you can record your fuel reduction and home hardening activities (see #9 below).
9. How do I record my vegetation removal/fuel reduction/home hardening hours or money spent? Simply follow the easy instructions (under "Record Your Hours" above) to record estimated amount of vegetation removal and home hardening activities (or amount of money you paid to have it done).
10. What do the teams do? There are four teams that need new members: (1) Emergency Response, (2) Wildfire Preparedness, (3) Water Assurance, and (4) Communications. There are full descriptions of each team and activities above (under "Neighborhood Teams"). If you have skills in website design and social media, please join our Communications team!
11. How much time is involved if I want to join a team? The time commitment is very flexible, but it will generally average to less than two hours per month.
Want to learn more about Firewise USA?
Visit the Firewise USA webpage to explore the program, learn about wildfire, and become educated on what you can do to protect your home.
