Resilient Cloverdale Background
In October of 2019, the Kincade fire broke out a few miles south of Cloverdale. In response Pacific Gas and Electric turned off essential lifelines, electricity and natural gas, to the city in an effort to mitigate the impact of the wildfire. Within hours, many vulnerable residents in the community, sheltering in their homes, began to experience difficulties protecting their health and well-being due to the reduction in services. At the same time, a large number of residents from the surrounding region began to present themselves at the Citrus Fairgrounds looking for care and shelter support. Fortunately, the city’s civic networks activated and organized feeding, volunteer and donation strategies to support all those impacted by the Kincade fire. In December of 2019, the city convened a group of key stakeholders to launch a strategic planning process that would increase the capacity to prepare for, and respond to, times of stress in an inclusive and equitable manner. The program was branded Resilient Cloverdale and was supported by the City Manager’s office, the Mayor and key local civic and service leaders.
In February, 2020, Resilient Cloverdale hosted a convening of all social and spiritual services organizations to inventory lessons learned from the response to the Kincade fire as well as began to craft an integrated readiness/response strategy for future events to address the gaps that were brought forward during the meeting. Soon after, the COVID 19 pandemic occurred and the strategic planning process was put on hold.
