Sapien.

Thank you all for joining us today for this study session to learn about San Jose's wildfire preparedness efforts and hear from all of our partners.

We are going to commence the study session.

Tony, do you want to take role formally?

I guess you probably do.

Go ahead.

Kim here.

Campos.

Salas.

Here.

Present.

Well, Kahy?

Here.

Candellas.

Here.

Casey here.

Mayhan.

Here.

Kev McCorm.

Great.

Thank you.

So I just, again, I want to thank Chief Sapien, uh, Deputy Chief Dobson, Captain Ibarra, Rachel Roberts, and all of our other partners who have helped organize this discussion and bring in many experts.

So I look forward to hearing from today.

I'm thrilled that we are joined by representatives from Calfire, Santa Clara County Fire, Santa Clara County Fire Safe Council, and San Jose State University, amongst many other partners in the audience.

I understand we're joined by folks from many city departments as well as external partners at Valley Waters, San Jose Water Company, PGE, and I hope I'm not missing anyone, but those are some of the outside agencies, and then representation from a number of city departments.

As we've seen across California, wildfire risk continues to grow, and the most recent fire in Los Angeles was a stark reminder of why it's critically important that we have this forum to learn, anticipate, prepare, work closely with staff and experts to be as ready as we possibly can be and do everything we can to prevent uh tragedy.

Through the March budget message, Council gave clear direction to strengthen our wildfire fuel reduction work, improve data collection, and enhance collaboration with partners.

I want to thank staff for expanding vegetation management efforts and begin work on a vegetation management dashboard that will help us to better track and prioritize those efforts going forward.

Today is also an opportunity to explore understand uh better new technologies we might be able to use.

I personally am very interested in investments in aerial vegetation assessments and AI-powered risk mapping and real-time uh condition um data gathering and analysis to help us map out strategic data-driven implementation that will keep our neighborhoods safe and ensure that in the case of a crisis we're able to evacuate efficiently and effectively.

So, really look forward to hearing more about how we collectively are advancing this work and how we can continue to collaborate with county and state partners to redisk reduce risk and protect our communities.

So, with that, I will turn it over to Chief Sapien to jump in.

Thank you, Mayor, and good afternoon, City Council.

I am Fire Chief Robert Sapien, and I'm pleased to provide opening comments for today's study session.

2025 San Jose Wildfire Planning and Preparedness.

In January 2025, under extreme fire weather conditions, wildfires in Los Angeles and Altadina, California claimed 30 lives, burned nearly 37,000 acres, and destroyed more than 15,000 structures.

The unprecedented scale of the fires was met by state and federal resources, local agencies from within the state operating under the California Fire Service and Rescue Emergency Mutual Aid Plan, interstate mutual aid resources, and even international resources from Canada and Mexico.

San Jose Fire Department response included 31 personnel who supported efforts through suppression duties and a variety of roles with within the Palisades fire and Eaton Fire Incident Command structures.

The devastation left behind by the Palisades fire and the Eaton Fire, rightfully focused communities across the state on their old on their own wildfire planning and preparedness.

In San Jose, City Manager Jennifer McGuire, on February 3rd, 2025, released the information memo to City Council titled City of San Jose Wildfire Preparedness Update, which provided an overview of local wildfire preparedness, including information on fuels, fire fuels reduction, suppression water availability, evacuation planning, preparedness communications, and illegal fireworks mitigation efforts.

There are 31,032 addresses in areas defined as wildland urban interface, or WUI in areas protected by the San Jose Fire Department.

Also based upon fire hazard severity zone maps generated by the Office of the State Fire Marshal.

Also based upon fire hazard severity zone maps generated by the Office of the State Fire Marshal, areas protected by the San Jose Fire Department include 11,768 addresses that are located in fire hazard severity zones with 5,737 addresses in moderate zones, 6,027 addresses and high fire hazard severity zones, and four addresses in very high fire hazard severity zones.

To give a better sense of scale, FHS Z uh encompasses 46.2 square miles or 29,581 acres.

The threat of fire is a reality in Santa Clara County and San Jose, with each year bringing new vegetation growth, and with each fire season, vegetation growth turned to fire fuels.

Fires have been test intensified in recent years, and while we have occupied this fire vulnerable environment for almost two centuries, the clear lesson is that we must redouble our efforts to counter fire risk.

Planning prevention and response actions must be ongoing and must be a community-wide effort.

Today's city council study session brings together individuals who bring expertise in a variety of fields who will help to lead us through a productive conversation on wildfire preparedness topics.

Presentations on fuel and fire behavior, area planning and technologies, and local response and risk reduction.

In the presenter's box today, we have assistant city manager Lee Wilcox, Deputy Fire Chief and San Jose Fire Marshal, James Dobson, Fire Captain and San Jose Fire Department Wildland Officer Anthony Ibarra, Deputy Director Rachel Roberts from the Department of Planning, Building, and Code Enforcement, Seth Shallot, Chief Executive Officer of the Santa Clara County Fire Safe Council, Dr.

Greg Clements, Professor of Meteorology at the San Jose State University, and Director of the Wildfire Inter Interdisciplinary Research Center, Calfire Unit Chief Marcus Hernandez, and Deputy Fire Chief Brian Glass from the Santa Clara County Fire Department.

With that, I will turn the microphone over to Captain Anthony Abarra, who will get us started.

Thank you, Chief Sapien.

Good afternoon, Mayor Mahan, Council members, and members of the public.

My name is Captain Anthony Ibarra, serving as the dedicated wildland officer for the San Jose Fire Department.

It is my privilege to facilitate this today's presentation on wildfire preparedness and planning for the City of San Jose.

Our goal today is to provide you with a comprehensive understanding of the ongoing collaborative efforts between our department and our valued partners to protect San Jose residents and surrounded communities from wildfire threats.

Following this introduction, we'll begin with an essential overview of fuels and fire behavior.

I'm honored to introduce our first presenters, Calfire Unit Chief Eric Hernandez, and Dr.

Greg Clements from the Director of Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center at San Jose State University.