By Judy Harrington
126 San Diego residents gathered recently at the Salvation Army Kroc Center on January 20 to hear vital advice from firefighters and other experts on surviving wildfires like the Los Angeles area experienced last winter.
Speakers included Alex Kane, Assistant Fire Marshal/ Wildfire Program Manager and his team members, Sierra Brown, Deputy Fire Marshal, and Helen Sylvia, Firefighter Paramedic III, as well as Carie Chouinard, San Diego’s Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Program Manager and Melissa Altman, Regional Preparedness Manager for the American Red Cross San Diego.
“If you’re not prepared, you become part of the problem, and the fire department has to focus on evacuations as opposed to fire suppression.” Assistant Fire Marshall Alex Kane said in urging folks to not become “part of the emergency.”
Kane explained that he is now heading up a new wildfire prevention and mitigation division of the San Diego Fire Rescue Department, focused on creating wildfire resilient communities. Among his many tips: get involved with your local fire safe council –” …they are making a difference.” San Diego county has 54 FSCs, the most of any county in the country.
Consider becoming a certified “Firewise Community,” Kane suggested, which may also result in reductions in homeowner insurance premiums. His team urged folks to go online and use the fire department’s wildfire action guide’s step by step program. You can locate it by searching for “Ready, Set, Go San Diego.”
“You are the first responder” when disaster strikes your home, Carie Chouinard, from CERT told the gathering. “Being prepared to keep yourself safe is already being part of the solution.” Ms. Chouinard’s extensive advice included having online alerts set up on your phone and knowing their sound ahead of time, and having a “Go Bag” and a “Stay Bag” in case you have to shelter in place.
“Red flag warning – that’s a notice you could actually have a wildfire creep up in your backyard,” Melissa Altman with the American Red Cross of San Diego advised, “The first 72 hours are up to you.” Speaking about her experience working at shelters, Ms. Altman said, “Some people show up and don’t even have shoes. They have no proof of ID and it’s really hard to get them on the path to recovery.” Options include saving vital documents to the cloud or storing them in a safety deposit box.
Explaining that Red Cross shelters are open to everyone, no ID required, Ms. Altmann added: “I have stayed in many shelters in my tenure; I will tell you sleeping on a cot around 100 other people can get a little uncomfortable after a few days, so have an alternate place in mind” if you can.
Numerous other important tips were provided by the speakers. Consider watching the full January 21, 2026 event videos available on Kensingtonfiresafe.org.
The “Make Wildfire Safety Your New Year’s Resolution Forum” was sponsored by the Mid-City Fire Safe Council Coalition which includes councils in Alvarado Estates, College Canyons, College East, Greater Golden Hill, Kensington, Normal Heights, and Talmadge. The program and fire safe councils are supported by the San Diego Regional Fire Foundation and Greater SD Resource Conservation District, the San Diego River Conservancy, and Fire Safe Council of San Diego County.
