Once again in 2024 the South Skyline Emergency Preparedness Organization and the South Skyline FireSafe Council collaborated on a joint event for the community. We decided to blend all the best of our previous events and create a day-long workshop on preparing family, home and neighborhood against the risks of mountain living — from wildfires and earthquakes to accidents and injuries. This was structured as a set of lectures and practical sessions with multiple tracks to choose from, plus vendor tables during lunch. We held two identical sessions: July 27 at La Honda Elementary School and August 10 at the Saratoga Summit CalFire station.
The events were a huge success, with 85 guests — the most we’ve ever had at any of our instructional events. Evaluation forms came back extremely positive; people were impressed by the amount and depth of content. We had a good mix of existing residents as well as newcomers and prospective mountain dwellers trying to learn more.
Schedule
- 9:30–10:00 — Registration
- 10:00–10:10 — Welcome & Introductions
- 10:10–12:15 — Presentations: South Skyline FireSafe Council (Larry and Ed Hayes)
- Home Hardening
- Defensible Space
- BioChar
- Insurance (with United Policy Holders)
- 11:30–3:40 — Tables with vendors and demonstrations
- 12:15–1:30 — Lunch — Taqueria de Amigos
- 1:30–2:30 — Two tracks:
- (a) Stop the Bleed taught by Stanford Trauma Service — official class with certificate
- (b) Neighborhood Emergency Preparedness & Communications (Pat O’Coffey)
- 2:30–3:40 — Rotate through 3 groups:
- (a) MacGyver Medicine taught by Dr. Rich Lee
- (b) Cribbing
- (c) Fire Extinguisher training taught by Robert Smith from La Honda Fire Brigade
- 3:40–4:00 — Wrap-up
Vendors and Demonstrators
United Policyholders, Midpeninsula Open Space District, San Mateo Medical Reserve Corps, California Red Cross, Brush Hog Tree Care, California Sunlight, CPR demonstration with Don Chislow & Dave Myrick, WinLink demonstration by Bryan Osborne, South Skyline Firesafe Council