This live CASI panel will present at the Carmel Barnyard on February 26th at 4:30 pm. Prior CASI events have focused on home hardening, but this event will feature what we can demand of our legislators and Boards of Supervisors to appreciably reduce the risk of a major wildfire and insure rapid response and containment.

This event focuses on the nature of wildfire ignition and propagation will be presented, with emphasis on measures of forest fire prevention. Panelists will include First Lieutenant Caroline Hogan, who has an advanced degree in fire ecology; Rob Thompson, who is one an expert in our Central Coast forests; and Theo Maehr who is a wildfire author and will share his firefighting experience in forested areas and knowledge of California wildfire policies. We shall explore recent state legislative actions, which may be detrimental to prevention of wildfire spread, and present details of effective forest management, including dead wood removal, mastication of brush, grazing strategies and role of controlled burns.

Specifics of active programs of the Santa Lucia Conservancy wildfire prevention methods will be given. This will include ongoing practical, on-the-ground wildfire risk reduction. Specific programs will be detailed on targeted grazing to reduce grass fuel, as well as strategic fuel breaks and controlled burns. Emphasis will be given to how large scale brush and dead wood removal is conducted in Monterey County. We shall also detail how aerial and terrestrial applied vegetation treatments can slow fire spread and reduce fire intensity across the landscape.

We shall also detail the specific shrub and tree species in the Central Coast, and how we need to target prevention on the most fire prone and high fire fuel ecosystems. There will be a data presentation on the most common proximate causes of wildfires in California: namely arson and power line/transformer failure and the relationship of our underserved California electrical grid to risk of transformer sparking. This analysis will also detail a California wide lack of aerial response resources. We shall further visit the role of selected logging in high fire risk areas, as well as the deficiency in California quick response fire fighting resources, which have been reduced from prior more robust levels.

We shall also discuss the importance of ensuring adequate water supply to make sure that we always have sufficient water available in each part of the Central Coast to provide the water element of firefighting. That deficiency was critically noted int the 2025 Palisades fire. Finally we shall discuss recent and proposed state legislation, much of which curiously encourages major new building in wildfire prone areas.

Complimentary light refreshments will be served. If you are not already a CASI member: https://casicalifornia.org/become-a-member/ and get free tickets to this and many other 2026.