Take action NOW to prevent San Francisco from Becoming the next Catastrophic Wildfire

 

 

12/3/2025 Call to Action:

AT&T wants to put a 104' antenna and a 190-gal. diesel fuel tank on the edge of Glen Canyon Park. It's a fire hazard in an area that's already landscaped for fire. Please email the Board.of.Supervisors@sfgov.org and ask them to put a stop to this. Please do so by Sunday.

Thank you again and Happy Holidays!

Summary:

San Francisco officials are ignoring increasing wildfire risk in the City, as weather conditions are growing more extreme. For the first time ever, the National Weather Service issued red flag wildfire warnings for SF in 2024. Sign this petition to insist that City officials mitigate wildfire risk by reducing vegetative fuels, as was recommended as early as 2008. If we don’t learn from the LA fires, we risk repeating their tragedy — at a potentially catastrophic cost. City Supervisor Myrna Melgar is interested in taking action.

[See also the petition “Take action NOW to Save San Francisco’s Native Biodiversity Heritage” at https://chng.it/WTmfc9SFGH

Message to City Officials:

San Francisco is woefully unprepared for fires occurring simultaneously across the City, whether they start from a vegetative fire that throws off burning embers or from a major earthquake like the ones that are overdue along and San Andreas and Hayward faults. The public deserves to see City officials prioritize public safety from a catastrophic Citywide conflagration.

We, the undersigned, demand that the City of San Francisco take urgent and corrective action to use the Precautionary Principle and prevent irreversible harm. Specifically, we call for:

·         Vegetation management: Establish a citywide strategy to reduce wildfire fuels, with clear responsibilities, funding and deadlines. Thin overgrowth, remove invasive species and create defensible space around buildings and infrastructure.

·         Evacuation planning: Every neighborhood near open space must have an evacuation plan, complete with signage, designated centers and traffic routing. Vulnerable populations — including seniors, people with disabilities and non-English speakers — must be prioritized.

·         Drills and training: Regular fire drills should involve residents, first responders and emergency managers. Evacuation plans mean little if people don’t know how to execute them.

·         Public education: Launch a campaign to raise awareness about wildfire risk, red flag days, defensible space and home hardening. Translate materials into multiple languages and post signs at parks and trailheads.

·         Air quality resilience: Equip schools, shelters and community centers with HEPA-grade filtration systems. Stockpile N95 masks and identify clean-air refuges across the city.

·         Early warning systems: Install wildfire detection cameras, weather sensors and mapping tools in high-risk areas like Glen Canyon, Mt. Davidson and Mt. Sutro — following the lead of Los Angeles. Repair or replace the public address system; lack of electricity and cell phone service may make a public address system the only means of alerting the public. 

·         Firefighter readiness: Expand San Francisco Fire Department’s wildland capabilities. Ensure crews are trained and equipped, with access to aerial suppression resources and mutual aid agreements with agencies like Cal Fire.

·         Water infrastructure: Extend the city’s high-pressure firefighting water system beyond the east side to cover all neighborhoods.

·         Funding and accountability: Seek public and private funds to support these initiatives, and establish a wildfire readiness oversight board to track progress and keep City Hall — and the public — accountable.

The time to act is now, lest we become the next cautionary tale.

This message will be sent to:

San Francisco Mayor Dan Lurie

San Francisco Board of Supervisors

San Francisco City Administrator Carmen Chu

San Francisco Office of Climate Resilience and Capital Planning

San Francisco Department of Emergency Planning

San Francisco Recreation and Parks Commission

San Francisco Recreation and Park Department

San Francisco Public Works Commission

San Francisco Public Works Department

San Francisco Environment Commission

San Francisco Environment Department

San Francisco Urban Forestry Council

San Francisco Bureau of Urban Forestry

San Francisco Fire Commission

San Francisco Fire Department

[Read about the City's high and very high fire hazardousness that puts the entire City at risk. See https://drive.google.com/file/d/1r5KSSlEd-t8kuGty3AtZFWmWbo2Z4etL/view?usp=sharing

7/17/25 update:

Jackie Speier--former Congresswoman and current San Mateo Supervisor, spoke with me. She wanted me to tell SF officials to do what San Mateo is doing--getting serious about fire prevention and preparedness.

As I told her, SF officials are not addressing the potential for multiple fires raging simultaneously across the City. It's all the more reason SF officials need to hear from folks like you and me. 

Thanks for signing this petition. Please do share it with others, along with my biodiversity petition. Dead/dying/dangerous trees should be replaced with indigenous plants in support of rapidly declining populations of native bees, butterflies and birds.

Wildfire prevention and preparedness: 

https://chng.it/8fgV5pdHhX  

Native biodiversity:

https://chng.it/WTmfc9SFGH

7/16/25 update: 

This morning, I met w/ Dept of Emergency Management Communications Manager Jackie Thornhill for a whole hour. She will urge SFFD to message the need to create defensible space around buildings for fire preparedness.  Amazingly, Jackie also offered to table at neighborhood events--even my small neighborhood block party in September!

7/19/25 Update:

There are dead, dying, dangerous eucalyptus trees along O'Shaughnessy Blvd., where there are NO FIRE HYDRANTS. City officials met me there, along with Cal Fire representatives. The SFPUC has removed eucalyptus from their parcel of Glen Canyon Park to "reduce fuel". However, other City officials intend to leave their trees as they are. These trees occur in the Significant Natural Resource Area and the recreation area of Glen Canyon Park and should be replaced with indigenous plants. Tell your contacts.

7/23/25 Update:

SF State University's study found that of the 9 bumblebee species in San Francisco's history, 2 have disappeared. Another 2 are blinking out, if they haven't already disappeared. Other pollinator species are also likely declining. If you haven't signed the Biodiversity petition, go to https://chng.it/WTmfc9SFGH

7/25/25 Update:

Local media are finally taking notice. "Could wildfires happen in San Francisco? The answer is yes" (https://thevoicesf.org/could-wildfires-happen-in-san-francisco/ was written by an anonymous author--a fire instructor and former firefighter. A major issue is that folks associated with Cal Fire and SFFD refuse to comment on the hazardousness of unirrigated groves of eucalyptus. It's no wonder, then, that the City's Hazards and Climate Resilience Plan, which parrots information its gathers from City agencies, does not tell Mayor Lurie and the Board of Supervisors about the high fire danger among unirrigated eucalyptus.

7/30/25 Update:

If you like birds, sign and share my Biodiversity Petition at https://chng.it/WTmfc9SFGH. Because birds eat insects for protein, and insects depend on native plants, which they co-evolved with.

8/13/25 Update:

Thanks to everyone who signed this petition. Please also sign my Biodiversity Petition at https://chng.it/WTmfc9SFGH Every public City meeting starts with an acknowledgement that we steward unceded (stolen) Ohlone land, but RPD and PW continue to disrespect the land by planting mostly non-native plants and street trees, respectively.

8/23/25 Update:

Cal Fire recommends that the public engage in defensible space, home hardening and fire smart landscaping.*  As we are entering San Francisco's wildfire season, we should start creating a 5' combustibles-free perimeter around our homes and covering vents with screens like 1/8" window screening. We must insist that City officials, including SFFD, do their part. Support my advocacy by widely sharing my wildfire prevention and preparedness petition at https://chng.it/8fgV5pdHhX

* https://readyforwildfire.org/

11/14/25 Update:

Thanks for your support for fire prevention and preparedness. Thanks for signing and sharing my petition. Thanks for your monetary contributions. (I do not receive any money. Change.org uses contributions to promote petitions.)

Up to now, I've focused more on wildfire risk than on the risk of post-earthquake fires. I've learned that the USGS predicts a massive earthquake similar to the 1906 quake. The SF Chronicle recently reported that we are at risk of a super shear quake; a massive earthquake will start with an explosive jolt. Water and gas pipelines will break. Fires will ensue. Further, important SFFD and SFPD stations are still seismically unsafe. First responders will need to be rescued first.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/science/article/california-supershear-earthquake-21075426.php and https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/earthquake-risk-buildings-20357863.php

If you are more worried than ever before, do encourage more friends, relatives and co-workers to sign my petition. Then clear a 5' - 10' perimeter around your home and get your neighbors to do likewise.