Good Fire Alliance
Learning and Burning Together in the North Bay
Welcome to our community of neighbors helping neighbors to put good fire on the ground! If you are interested in getting your property in the queue for a prescribed burn, please fill out this Intake Form.
If you’d like to learn about upcoming prescribed burns; pile burning, fire ecology or permitting workshops; community BBQs; and all other events hosted by the members of the Good Fire Alliance, join our listserv by emailing main+subscribe@gfa.groups.io – or bookmark this page.
Check out links to local resources below and if you have additional questions, email us directly at goodfirealliance@gmail.com.
Upcoming Events
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Learning & Burning (LAB) Days (Santa Rosa)
November - March (1st & 3rd Thu, 2nd Sat)
Join us for the Learning and Burning (or LAB) Days where all participants can learn, share, ask questions, and get hands-on experience stewarding land with good fire. Our activities will include broadcast burning, jackpot burning, pile burning, pile burn restoration, native grass restoration, fire ecology, hikes, and talks.
Each day’s activity will be determined by the weather and environmental conditions of that day, and registered participants will be informed of the activity a few days before the event date. While we might not be putting fire on the ground every LAB day, there will be a meaningful learning activity around fire and ecology.Location: Pepperwood Preserve, Santa Rosa
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Pile Burn Workshop (Occidental)
Jan 4. 9:00-2:00PM
• How to create and burn safe, clean woody debris piles
• What precautions are needed for pile burning in a location where water is not plumbed
• What permits are needed from air quality and fire districts
• The potential benefits of forest fuel reduction
• Ecological restoration with pile burning
Terrain: Participants may need to hike 5-10 minutes on uneven ground and varied terrain.
Gear: Dress for field work and being in the weather: sturdy work boots, work clothes (long pants), non-synthetic layers (like cotton). Bring gloves, eye protection, water, a hat, and sunscreen.
Lunch: Bring a bag lunch. Please bring plenty of water.
Weather: Light rain will NOT cancel the event. Participants will receive an email the day before the event if a storm will cancel it.
Location: Alliance Redwoods, 6250 Bohemian Hwy, Occidental
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Pile Burn Workshop (Glen Ellen)
Jan 18. 9:00-2:00PM
• How to create and burn safe, clean woody debris piles
• What precautions are needed for pile burning in a location where water is not plumbed
• What permits are needed from air quality and fire districts
• The potential benefits of forest fuel reduction
• Ecological restoration with pile burning
Terrain: Participants may need to hike 5-10 minutes on uneven ground and varied terrain.
Gear: Dress for field work and being in the weather: sturdy work boots, work clothes (long pants), non-synthetic layers (like cotton). Bring gloves, eye protection, water, a hat, and sunscreen.
Lunch: Bring a bag lunch. Please bring plenty of water.
Weather: Light rain will NOT cancel the event. Participants will receive an email the day before the event if a storm will cancel it.
Location: Pepperwood Preserve, 2130 Pepperwood Preserve Rd, Santa Rosa
Local Resources
Intake form for prescribed burns in the North Bay
Prescribed burn guide for Sonoma County
Tips for Building Burn Piles for Sonoma County (including links for required permits, and phone numbers to call)
Quemando Pilas en Sonoma (Building Burn Piles in Sonoma in Spanish)
Contractors to assist with thinning, pile burning, broadcast burning prep, invasive species, post-fire restoration
Training Opportunities:
Fire Forward offers a variety of trainings, from volunteers looking to assist with burns to people pursuing careers as fire practitioners.
Pepperwood Preserve offers frequent pile burning workshops.
LandPaths organizes unique community “patch burns” — smaller, low-severity burns that are open to everyone, from children to elders.
Good Fire Alliance Instagram page
Articles, Webinars, Books on Beneficial Fire
If you are new to prescribed fire:
A San Francisco Chronicle feature with illustrations of what California’s forests looked like before and after fire suppression and an explanation of how good fire can reverse these changes
A Bay Nature article by Dr. Don Hankins (Plains Miwok), “Reading the Landscape for Fire”
Adapting western North American forests to climate change and wildfires: 10 common questions summarizes over 300 peer-reviewed studies on the benefits of prescribed fire
Books: California Indians and Their Environment and Tending the Wild document Indigenous stewardship practices, including cultural fires, in what is now California
A New York Times video featuring the work of some of the GFA fire practitioners
If you have been working with beneficial fires for a while:
Prescribed Fire Effects in Coast Redwood Forests in the Bay Area, by Taj Katuna, UC Berkeley
Managing Invasive Species with Good Fire, by Devyn Friedfel, Pepperwood Preserve
Lessons Learned on Prescribed Fire, Volume 1, by Nebraska Prescribed Fire Council (submit your lessons!)
California Fire Science Consortium is a great resource for the latest research and webinars on good fire