Occidental residents need safe evacuation routes, and the damage from the last two winter storms have made Joy Rd anything but safe in an emergency.

Without assistance, the repair of Joy Rd could be delayed for years, leaving us all vulnerable in the face of a significant fire.  

We are asking everyone to sign this petition, which will go with the draft letter below to our US Representative, Jared Huffman, CA Senator Mike McGuire, and District Supervisor Lynda Hopkins, asking them to pressure FEMA to take action.

Each additional person who signs this will improve the chance we get results. Please consider sharing this with your friends and family, who might not live here but could be adversely affected by Joy Road's issues.

Thanks for your support. ~ Fire Safe Occidental.

 

TO: U.S. Representative Jared Huffman, CA Senator Mike McGuire, and District Supervisor Lynda Hopkins

FROM: Fire Safe Occidental, Safer West County, and Concerned Citizens:

Dear Congressman Jared Huffman, Senator McGuire, and Supervisor Hopkins,

The Occidental, California community requests your help on a time-sensitive safety issue—FEMA repairs of an undermined and partially collapsed section of Joy Road. The FEMA case number is: 713231

Over the past two years, severe storms have caused a growing landslide undermining the south end of Joy—a road with steep incline and many blind curves. This road is still passable as one-lane, but doing so is dangerous in the best of conditions and will be disastrous during an evacuation. 

Joy Road is the only southbound route for the southern portion of the Occidental area and is the primary evacuation route for over 600 residents along its 4.7-mile stretch, including all the residents on Joy Road, Fitzpatrick Lane, Taylor Lane, Jennifer Lane, Laurie Lane, Joy Ridge
Road, Burl Lane, Joy Woods Way, and at least some residents on Bittner and Coleman Valley Roads. This does not consider the additional population of tourists who frequently travel on Joy Rd and those who work here.

Joy Road is also the primary ingress route for firefighters and other first responders. This means during an evacuation, first responders would simultaneously need to head northbound on Joy Rd from Bodega Highway while residents head south, and parts of the road are now one lane.
(Historically, wildfires have approached our area from the north.)

Safer West County and Fire Safe Occidental have expressed concerns to Sonoma Public Infrastructure and 5th District Supervisor Lynda Hopkins.
We understand there is a FEMA application in a process that began in 2023, but we were told it would be a lengthy timeline for the repair to be approved by FEMA and implemented. We are concerned that this could be several years more before the project will be started.

Therefore, we, the undersigned, respectfully request your help expediting these critical repairs immediately because people’s lives are increasingly at risk with every delay.

Thank you.

Contact:

Andrea Oreck
Fire Safe Occidental representative
andreaoreckfa@aol.com
707 695-6288

Amy Beilharz
President Emeritus, Safer West County
amy@amybeilharz.com
512-422-9197