Chimney Sweep

Older Adults in Sonoma County to Get Fireplace-Security Residence Retrofits — for Free

A few weeks after the fire assessors’ survey, a team from Habitat will return to Monte Rio and work with Levy to identify necessary improvements like grab bars, ramps and low-threshold showers that will allow her to age at home for years to come. As a final step, the Habitat team will allocate a workday to make the improvements Levy needs, as well as hardening the house – like replacing old windows with tempered glass – and defensible space, like removing a combustible pile of firewood from her porch.

Megan Hennessy, program manager at Habitat Sonoma, sees firsthand how critical these repairs are for elderly residents, especially after three major fires in Sonoma County in the past four years.

“It struck me that older homeowners are very, very, very concerned about what would happen if a fire started,” Hennessy said.

Shawn Connally stands in front of her home in Occidental. (Isaac Ceja/KQED)

According to the US Fire Department, adults over the age of 65 are more than twice as likely to die in a fire compared to the general population. “Rural and semi-rural communities, which are among the oldest in the state of California, tend to be among the most vulnerable,” said Andrew Scharlach, professor of aging at UC Berkeley. Older rural homeowners, especially low-income homeowners, are less able to make fireproof home improvements, move to a lower-risk area before a fire and evacuate if a fire inevitably breaks out, he said.

Shawn Connally, a 56-year-old resident of Occidental in Sonoma County, often worries about fires. She keeps her car in the back so she can evacuate at any time. She has a holdall in her mud room packed with a small souvenir statue from New Zealand, two sets of salt and pepper shakers (chosen from the hundreds she inherited from her grandmother), several family rings and her important paper documents.

Two men in caps smile with trees in the background.Wildfire Services director Andrew Carrillo (left) and Brandon North work together to fire-test a home in Monte Rio. (Isaac Ceja/KQED)

Connally lives on a sprawling lot shaded by towering trees and perched on a steep, winding driveway. She used to tend the overgrown bush on her property herself, but multiple sclerosis has made that impossible.

“If I tried that, it would probably blow my mind for a few days,” she said. That’s why she participates in the Fire Safe Sonoma and Habitat for Humanity programs.

Connally’s hope is that Fire Safe Sonoma and Habitat can rail the steep steps leading to her home and basement and remove the combustible vegetation that has accumulated around her property. The winding driveway also poses a problem as it would be difficult for a fire engine to negotiate the narrow path. Habitat will aim to make her house as resilient as possible so that even if firefighters can’t reach Connally’s house, it still has a good chance of surviving a fire.

No sweat, no expense

Sonoma’s Habitat subsidiary has been building and repairing homes for 35 years and has one of the more robust on-site aging programs in California. Although Habitat affiliates across California facilitate on-site aging, the offerings of these programs vary widely, and many affiliates require beneficiaries to provide “weld capital” in the form of labor or participate in an amortization program. Habitat and Fire Safe Sonoma, on the other hand, can perform this work at no cost to the homeowner.

A man's rights on a checklist titled Wildland Fire Assessment ProgramAndrew Carrillo, director of Wildfire Services, completes a home assessment checklist for the Wildland Fire Assessment Program in Occidental. (Isaac Ceja/KQED)

In 2020–21, the California Legislature allocated $25 million for home hardening and defense and allocated an additional $25 million over the next two fiscal years. The California Office of Emergency Services then selected pilot districts based on a high risk of fire and other criteria, including proportion of the population over the age of 65.

But the program was slow to roll out, and homeowners are still waiting for grants and support. Until government investments in fire safety are realized, local programs must fill the gaps.

As fire investigators dispatched by Fire Safe Sonoma walked around Levy’s home, she recalled her early years in California. At 19, Levy quit her job as a library assistant in her hometown of Philadelphia and came to San Francisco for the 1967 Summer of Love.

A few years later, she was camping near her current home on the Russian River and fell in love with the vastness of the country and the cheap rents. There she began working as an accountant for a child care resource and placement agency in Guerneville.

“Growing up in the city, I always wanted a farm,” Levy said, recalling the chickens she used to raise — until the raccoons devoured them.

A man in a jacket and black cap points while an older white woman looks on.Andrew Carrillo points to trees he recommends removing to improve fire safety at Franceen Levy’s home. (Isaac Ceja/KQED)

Levy’s chickens and cheap rent are in the rearview mirror. Now she has new worries – namely fire. Levy knows she has to live with that risk because she never wants to leave her rural surroundings. With her new home modifications, she’s expecting just that.

Reporter Kate Raphael and photographer Isaac Ceja are in the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism’s Investigative Reporting Program. They covered this story through a grant from the SCAN Foundation.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button