Jimmy Durchslag with Dave Kahan and Camilo Stevenson on Protecting Your Home and Property Safe from Wildfires

On this podcast of Global Stuff, host Jimmy Durchslag talks with two people who are very active in local fire safe organizations and who work to help residents harden their homes to protect against fires. Dave Kahan has been advocating for integration of adequate defensible space with structures hardened to resist ignition, especially from wind borne embers. Camilo Stevenson has been a wildland firefighter since 1999 and with Briceland VFD for 10 years, serving currently as a Fire Apparatus Engineer and PIO (Public Information Officer). They bring their expertise to discuss all the ways homeowners can prepare their properties to promote fire safety. They also share the many resources available through local volunteer fire departments, fire safe councils, Cal-Fire and other organizations to provide support and help assess the fire prevention status of any property. Although focused on the local community in Northern California, the information is applicable to fire safety measures in any community.

Dave Kahan is the owner of Full Circle Forestry. He contracts with private individuals, public land management agencies, and non-profit organization to do timber felling, wildfire hazard tree mitigation, logging, forest health enhancement, timber stand improvement, fuel reduction, and infestation around homesteads and campgrounds.

Dave has managed and supervised crews of up to 18 people on thinning projects,  designed and implemented prescriptions for defensible space around homesteads and shaded fuel breaks, presented at forest related workshops and authored or co-authored several documents on defensible space and related topics.

Camilo Stevenson has been a wildland firefighter since 1999 and with Briceland VFD for 10 years, serving currently as a Fire Apparatus Engineer and PIO (Public Information Officer). His wife Ingrid is also a BVFD firefighter and they have both worked with Kai Ostrow on weather and fire effects monitoring for prescribed burns on the Huestis project, a 102 acre prescribed fire located on Mail Ridge near Dyerville Loop Road. They joined the Prescribed Burn Association early in the formation of the group and have worked in collaboration with them on numerous burn projects. Camilo previously worked with the Mattole Restoration Council as a technician with the Humboldt county FLASH (Fire-Adapted Landscapes And Safe Homes) program which assisted local residents with home hardening and wildfire risk assessments.

Jimmy Durchslag has been the host of “Global Stuff”, a monthly guest driven talk show for over 25 years. He has a long experience as a manager of several for profit and non-profit organizations. He is one of the founders of Redwood Community Radio, the parent organization for KMUD. He recently served as the Director of the Mainstream Media Project, a nonprofit organization that scheduled expert guests for interviews on talk shows both nationally and internationally.