Napa fire prevention tax measure fails to pass despite history of massive wildfires
NAPA – Even with a history of recent wildfires, a Napa County tax measure meant to raise money for fire prevention efforts failed to get enough votes at the polls.
Napa County has suffered two massive wildfires in recent years--the Atlas Fire in 2017 and the Glass Fire in 2020. But the measure, known as Measure L, just failed by nearly 9%.
The county is disappointed, and a little surprised, that Measure L was defeated. And now, they're going to have to look elsewhere for funding for the ambitious fire prevention plans that are already underway.
For an area that's seen devastating wildfires in two out of the last five years, it seems odd that a quarter-cent sales tax to fund fire prevention would be so soundly defeated.
"I can't believe that didn't pass. I mean, come on," Napa County resident Suzanne Sanchez told KPIX 5.
Sanchez remembered how awful the Atlas Fire was. "I cried. It was so devastating. Home after home after home just burned to the ground," she said.
The county's fire prevention authority, known as Napa Firewise, has identified $ 42 million worth of fuel reduction projects over the next five years, and now the county is scrambling to find ways to pay for it.
At their budget meeting Monday, officials proposed taking $5.4 million from the county's capital improvement fund and pursuing a $32.5 million grant from FEMA, but there's no guarantee they'll get that.
Officials were counting on Measure L to pass, and if they're wondering what went wrong, they might talk to Chris Frassett.
"All the trees are trimmed up. There's no branches on the ground, " Frassett said as he showed off his home on Soda Canyon Road. The house was saved in 2017 by the efforts he'd put into hardening the property.
Frassett said he has removed all the bushes from under his grove of oak trees and covered the wood house with a stucco coating. He has 6,000 gallons of water stored in tanks, with 3 water pumps and even fire hoses to battle any blaze.
One may think he'd be in favor of the tax, but he remains skeptical based on his experience with fire prevention officers.
"I've had them up here before and talked to them about this area and they say there's nothing they can do," said Frassett. "So, why throw money at it? If there's nothing they can do and they don't want to do it, then it's not gonna happen."
Frassett went on to say the measure was never fully explained to voters.
The county remains committed to the fuel reduction plan. They said the so-called "Old Fire" earlier this month was controlled because of a new fuel break created in the Soda Canyon area.
But if they can't sell the idea to a guy as committed to fire prevention as Frassett, what are its chances the next time it's put to a vote of the people?
Napa resident Christina Nicholson said they'll need to do a better sales job.
"Yeah, it's not always a slam dunk," Nicholson said. "People aren't just going to vote 'yes.' I think people need to know where their money's going to be spent and exactly where their funds are going towards."
