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The BIA|Bay Area Education Committee presents a virtual event A Fire Safe Future : What Does That Mean to Regulators, Designers, and Builders?
As climate change and wildfires are becoming a greater and greater concern for the urban interface we will hear from a panel of experts on how the state is seeing these conditions, what they are planning and how the legislators are teeing UP to address concerns.
In addition, we will have two Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) design specialists that will discuss design criteria needed to address concerns and how it will impact the home building industry.
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Moderator:
Darian Rauschendorfer, AIA
Principal
Dahlin Group
Darian has been raised in homebuilding with prior experience at her father's construction company, working with clients towards creative, executable designs is a personal passion. Specializing in residential communities and low density attached projects, Darian pushes teams to imagine who will live there and how they will experience the home and the community. She is always exploring fresh constructable ideas to inspire teams to create design solutions that better serve how people live, enhancing livability for the homeowners and creating value for the homebuilders. Committed to cultivating long-standing, collaborative relationships with our clients, Darian partners with clients to contribute to their success.
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Chris Ochoa
Senior Counsel for Codes, Regulatory and Legislative Affairs
California Building Industry Association
Chris Ochoa serves as CBIA's Senior Counsel for Codes, Regulatory and Legislative Affairs. Chris has nearly a quarter century of experience as an attorney and lobbyist navigating the national and state building code adoption process in Sacramento and Washington, D.C. As a practicing attorney and legislative advocate, Chris represents the CBIA before state boards and commissions, and at the State Legislature. Chris also represents the CBIA on several working groups and committees, including the CA State Fire Marshal's Wildland Urban Interface, Tall Wood and A2L Refrigerant Working Groups and the California Building Officials (CALBO) Legislative Committee.
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Ruben Grijalva
Ruben Grijalva is a former director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), which is responsible for protecting more than 31 million acres of the state's privately owned wildlands and provides emergency services to 36 of the state's 58 counties via contracts with local governments. He is also a former California state fire marshal and state forester.
Previously, Grijalva served as executive director of the California Fire and Rescue Training Authority, fire chief for the city of Palo Alto and fire marshal for the city of Sunnyvale.
Currently, Grijalva is the owner and principal consultant of FireChiefs.com, which provides a variety of consulting, government relations, strategic planning and code development services.
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Steve Hawks
Staff Chief
CAL FIRE
Chief Hawks has served since 1989 with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE). He has promoted through the ranks from firefighter to his current position as Staff Chief under CAL FIRE's Community Wildfire Preparedness and Mitigation Division which encompasses oversight of Land Use Planning, Wildfire Preparedness, Utility Wildfire Mitigation, CalStats, Pre-Fire Plan, and Wildfire Prevention Grants programs. Chief Hawks has been involved with several teaching cadres, served for 13 years on different CAL FIRE Incident Management Teams, and holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Forest Resource Management with a minor in Business Administration from Humboldt State University.
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Mel Johnson
Owner
Firewise 2000
Mel Johnson is the Owner of Firewise 2000 and a Certified CEQA Fire Protection Planning Consultant. He has been with Firewise 2000 for 18 years as a wildland fire consultant, developing Fuel Modification and Fire Protection Plans for hundreds of residential and commercial projects that detail wildfire risk and associated fire hazards as well as conducting on site condition surveys for HOA's and older developments that outline short term and long-term maintenance goals, fuel modification requirements, and priorities for renovation, maintenance and/or re-vegetation of common areas and homes bordering wildland vegetation.
Mel has a BS in Forestry, a California Teaching Credential, and is a Retired Certified Arborist. Prior to joining FIREWISE2000 Mel was a Forester with U.S. Forest Service and LA County Fire Department and firefighter/dispatcher with CAL Fire. He also worked for 8 years as the Executive Director of the California Urban Forests Council; and was an Adjunct Instructor for Antelope Valley Community College.
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Douglas Kent MS, MLA
Douglas Kent + Associates
Douglas has been working to create fire protected properties and communities since 1994. He has written the best-selling book on landscaping for fire protection (Firescaping) and has led educational efforts and landscape projects across California. He has written over 50 articles appearing in such publications as Fire Gardening, Los Angeles Times, and Sonoma Press Democrat. Mr. Kent has taught land management courses at Cal Poly Pomona since 2008. He is also author of 6 other books, including California Friendly and Ocean Friendly Gardening.
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