Wildfire season begins July 1.  Want to be prepared?  On April 27, 7 pm – 9 pm, AAUW Morgan Hill will host a virtual webinar where you can listen to and ask questions of wildfire experts.  Learn how wildfires behave, what to do before evacuation that will help protect your home, what to consider if you want to shelter in place, and how to minimize fire damage to your property.

Dr. Craig Clements is the Director of San Jose State University’s  Fire Weather Research Lab and Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center.  His research focuses on  “mega-wildfire” behavior and gathering data that can be analyzed to predict how the fire will behave. He has appeared on many news and science programs such as KQED and PBS Nova, and written articles for magazines as as diverse as Scientific American and Rolling Stone. In 2012 he received a CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation.

Dr. Amanda Stasiewicz is a wildfire social scientist who studies how people behave during wildfire evacuations and how their choices impact the actions of first responders.  She also researches wildfire management policy and communities adapted to existing in wildfire prone areas. She is an Assistant Professor in the Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center at San Jose State University and in the Environmental Studies department where she teaches her students about environmental laws and policies and natural resources.

Dr. Kate Wilkin, is an Assistant Professor of Fire Ecology in the Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center who previously worked as a Forestry and Fire Science Advisor with the University of California’s Agricultural and Natural Resource program. Her research currently is focused on how communities can recover from wildfires and how people can reduce fire damage through fuel treatments, the creation of defensible space and by making homes more fire resistant.

Chief Marcus Hernandez is the new Battalion Chief Fire Marshall for the City of Morgan Hill Fire Department.  This is a promotion for Chief Hernandez who previously worked for the CAL FIRE Land Use Planning Program.