The City of Cloverdale and a host of other local organizations have been making preparations to protect the health and well-being of our residents, businesses and guests throughout Cloverdale in the event of a wildlfire or other natural disaster, while building on the lessons of the Kincade fire in 2019, and adopting the practices that prevent the spread of COVID 19.
Background:
In October of 2019, the Kincade fire broke out a few miles south of Cloverdale. In response Pacific Gas and Electric turned off essential lifelines, electricity and natural gas, to the city in an effort to mitigate the impact of the wildfire. Within hours, many vulnerable residents in the community, sheltering in their homes, began to experience difficulties protecting their health and well-being due to the reduction in services. At the same time, a large number of residents from the surrounding region began to present themselves at the Citrus Fairgrounds looking for care and shelter support. Fortunately, the city’s civic networks activated and organized feeding, volunteer and donation strategies to support all those impacted by the Kincade fire.
In December of 2019, the city convened a group of key stakeholders to launch a strategic planning process that would increase the capacity to prepare for, and respond to, times of stress in an inclusive and equitable manner. The program was branded Resilient Cloverdale and was supported by the City Manager’s office, the Mayor and key local civic and service leaders.
In February, 2020, Resilient Cloverdale hosted a convening of all social and spiritual service organizations to inventory lessons learned from the response to the Kincade fire as well as begin to craft an integrated readiness/response strategy for future events to address the gaps that were brought forward during the meeting. Soon after, the COVID 19 pandemic occurred and the strategic planning process was put on hold.
A few months later, using Zoom and other virtual mediums, the Resilient Cloverdale leadership team re-started the planning process, so that any future response to local disasters can occur regardless of operating concerns.
The three primary goals are:
- Advance overall readiness of the city by investing in systems, relationships and resources to ensure any future response to disasters is done in an equitable and inclusive manner regardless of operating conditions (like a global pandemic).
- Increase the level of readiness of the Cloverdale Citrus Fairgrounds to respond to the surges in demand for care and shelter.
- Establish a local COAD (Community Agencies Active in Disaster) to support Cloverdale’s readiness and response goals encompassing all populations in the community.
A website for Resilient Cloverdale is being developed to obtain resources and up to date information. The website is www.resilientcloverdale.org
