A visit to Old Mill Park, or an attentive eye while walking around your neighborhood, is all it takes to understand that wildfires have burned in Mill Valley.  Just one look at the charred base of many redwood trees throughout our town confirms it.  Wildfires have burned the slopes of Mt. Tamalpais for generations, started by lightning or by human accidents or error.  One visit to the Sky Oaks Ranger Station on Mt. Tam to see their “Historical Fire Perimeter map” and it becomes immediately clear:  The risk of wildfire on Mt. Tamalpais (and thus in Mill Valley!) is very real.

 

Firefighters and volunteers ran for their lives in 1929 when the wind shifted.

The fire of 1929 burned most of the homes on Middle Ridge, and only missed burning the down town due to a last minute windshift.

A home fire in 2006, which killed one resident, threatened all of Cascade Canyon.  Firefighters were hindered due to our narrow roads, and it is felt by many that the only reason the fire didn’t get out of control was the fact that the home burned during a severe downpour.

Mr. and Mrs. Edward O. Hermann and daughters at the charred remains of their home located at 409 Magee Avenue in 1929. Over 100 homes burned on Summit, Marguerite, Ralston and Tamalpais avenues.  The same fire perimeter “footprint” covers over 850 homes today.



MARIN COUNTY
'Scary' wildfire threatens homes

Crews contain blaze outside Mill Valley

More than 150 firefighters from throughout the North Bay scrambled to protect homes, and nervous residents gathered up pets and priceless belongings Sunday as the first big local fire of the season burned through dense eucalyptus groves and perilously close to a neighborhood near Mill Valley.

 


Picturesque Mill Valley poses nightmare wildfire hazards

Blaze in '29 burned 115 homes; development has raised the stakes

Many places in Northern California could burst into flames with the ferocity of the blazes now ravaging the south state:  the Oakland hills, the Vaca Mountains east of the Napa Valley, the Cameron Park region east of Sacramento.  But if one north state community gives wildfire analysts the cold, shaking, night sweats, it is Mill Valley.

 

This map outlines the perimeter of the 1929 Mill Valley Fire, which burned 2500 acres and 117 homes. 


If the same fire burned today, and given the amount of “new” vegetation the risks are high, over 850 homes would burn!


The fire in the Oakland / Berkeley Hills certainly should have been a wake-up call to our residents.  Has it?

To get a sense of what a wildfire in a town like ours means, take 6 minutes or so and watch Part 2 of the 3-part online video titled “The Oakland Berkeley Hills Fire” on this link to Firewise!