Great news! On December 20, 2024, Persimmon Hill reached a milestone and became a certified Firewise USA Community. The benefits of being a Firewise Community are reducing the fire risk to your property, while creating a safer community for all residents, and you may also be eligible for savings on homeowners’ insurance.

The goal of the Persimmon Hill FireWise Community (PHFC) is to increase PH’s resilience to wildfires by having neighbors work together to protect their homes, reduce vegetation, and prepare for the next wildfire. The Firewise program is administered nationally by the National Fire Protection Association, and locally by the Ventura County Fire Department (VCFD) and the Ventura Regional Fire Safe Council (VRFSC).

With the recent Palisades and Eaton fires reminding us of the Thomas Fire’s impact on Ojai’s communities, PH homeowners are encouraged to take advantage of one of the benefits of being a Firewise Community which is a free fire risk assessment of your home managed by the VRFSC. This is a no-cost, no obligation review of your property which will be followed up by recommendations from a VRFSC representative about what you can do to increase the fire safety of your home.

As a designated Firewise community, any improvements, cost, and your time associated with reducing the fire risk of your property need to be documented and used to ensure that PH remains a Firewise Community in good standing. All the information should be forwarded to me at phfirewise@gmail.com. I will compile this information and forward it to the VRFSC. This request for documentation should include any improvements made after January 1, 2025.

This Spring there will be a meeting for all residents of Persimmon Hill with much more detailed information about the Firewise program and a representative from VRFSC will be present. In the meantime, please refer to the informational brochures that will be mailed to you and the links on the next page.

Looking forward to working with you on keeping PH firesafe. Please feel free to contact me at phfirewise@gmail.com with any questions you may have.

Petter Romming

Persimmon Hill homeowners are invited to join the Persimmon Hill Fire Safe Committee for a
presentation by Chris Danch, Executive Director of the Fire Safety Council Ojai Valley and his assistant, Kali O’Connor. The presentation and the opportunity for discussion will be held on Thursday May 4th at 6:00 pm at the Ojai Library meeting room.

BACKGROUND:
Due to the potential fire hazard to Persimmon Hill, the HOA Board on March 16th, 2023 decided to form the Persimmon Hill Fire Safe Committee (FSC). The members on the FSC are Darrell Ralston, Ron Wilson, Petter Romming.

The purpose of this Committee is to identify, propose, and implement measures to reduce the fire hazards to Persimmon Hill properties. The two initial projects are:

• Removing 100+ large eucalyptus trees and invasive plants along the San Antonio Creek.
• Have Persimmon Hill be designated as a Firewise USA Community. (This designation may also be recognized by insurance carriers with the possibility of a policy discount. Property owners
  should check directly with their insurance carrier to determine if they qualify).

To implement these projects the FSC reached out to the Fire Safety Council Ojai Valley and requested their assistance.

MAY 4, 2023 PRESENTATION:
During the meeting Chris Danch and Kali O’Connor of the Fire Safety Council Ojai Valley, will cover:

• Current status of the tree removal project and future steps
• Firewise Community Certification Process
• Efforts to address property insurance issues and modeling
• Community Wildfire Preparedness Home Ignition Zone (HIZ) Assessments and Home Hardening
• For the HIZ Assessments, they will do a “windshield survey” (they will drive through the neighborhood) of Persimmon Hill before the meeting and present their results 

If you have any questions or comments feel free to contact Petter via email: promming@gmail.com or cell phone: 805-432-4044.

Please RSVP by Sunday April 30th by replying to this email so we can ensure that we have adequate seating. Thank you.