Above: Corte Madera’s Hillside Area

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Dec 13
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Climate Adaptation Assessment: Hillsides

Wildfires present the most immediate threat to the health and safety of Corte Madera’s residents, employees, and visitors in the hillside neighborhoods. Corte Madera’s Christmas Tree hillside neighborhood lies in an Wildland Urban Interface (WUI). A significant portion of the hillside neighborhoods are wooded and lie directly within the WUI (based on areas with a high structure density and their proximity to fuels). Evacuation routes are steep, narrow and limited, posing significant challenges for residents during an evacuation and emergency responder access. This is especially true as fires become bigger, hotter, and more severe due to the impacts of climate change.

For more information about the climate vulnerabilities and proposed adaptations for the Hillside area, please view the Hillside chapter of the Adaptation Assessment linked below, and the related FAQs also listed below.

Questions? Email staff at: pwcounter@cortemadera.gov

 
 

Lower Christmas Tree Hill Undergrounding and Evacuation Improvement Project

The Town of Corte Madera is engaging the Christmas Tree Hillside neighborhood to discuss strategies to increase the capacity of the transportation system to facilitate safer and quicker emergency evacuation. This effort aims to 1) provide all residents of Christmas Tree Hill with the best and most recent information about current and future vulnerabilities; 2) create an opportunity to share ideas and be in conversation with Town staff and experts; 3) and collectively determine the appropriate transportation system improvements.

Get Involved

Thank you to those that joined Town Staff and the Project Team for an essential Virtual Community Workshop focused on the Lower Christmas Tree Hill Undergrounding & Evacuation Improvement Project, on November 18, 2024 from 6-7:30pm. Click on the image to the left or go HERE to find out more about the workshop and access the meeting recording and presentation.

The conceptual Community Engagement Timeline below illustrates the phases of the Lower Christmas Tree Hill Undergrounding and Evacuation Improvements project and the anticipated opportunities for the community to get involved and share your input. This information will be updated throughout the project.

 
 
 

Frequently Asked Questions

 

  • Recent studies suggest that climate change has rendered the concept of a “fire season” in California obsolete: major wildfires can happen at any time throughout the year and areas previously considered to be low-risk can experience major wildfire damage (CalFire Plan, 2018).

    Fire activity in the Bay Area is projected to increase in a warmer climate, especially in the Wildland Urban Interface (CA 4th Assessment Report, 2018).

    Across the state of California, there has been an increase in the number of fire ignitions, area burned, and the damages and impacts to humans and ecosystems (CalFire Plan, 2018).

  • Larger, more frequent, and more intense fire events are very likely.

    These fires bring significant risk to our property, health, air quality, economy, livelihoods, natural resources, and water supply.

  • Wildfires are dangerous, deadly, and expensive.

    In the Town of Corte Madera, our homes and land are valuable. Currently, 846 buildings are located in a CalFire ‘High Risk’ fire zone, and 468 are located in a ‘Moderate’ zone (CalFire Plan, 2018). Catastrophic wildfires can decrease property and land values.

    The impacts of wildfire last long after the actual fire event. Our water supply, sourced from the Mount Tamalpais Watershed, lies in a ‘Moderate’ to ‘Very High’ fire risk zone. Silting, erosion, and landslides are more common after wildfires and can impact water quality and quantity.

    Marin County is home to 17 fauna species and 20 flora species considered endangered, threatened, or rare.

  • Residents must abide by Town and County fire codes and regulations (based off of the International WUI codes): any new proposed structure must be built to code (fire resistant roofing, enclosed eaves, double-paned windows, etc.); and, new homes and subdivisions must accommodate fire apparatus road access among others.

    Six fire detection cameras located on Mt. Tamalpais, Mt. Barnabe, Big Rock, and Point Reyes are monitored by the Marin County Fire Department in Woodacre with real-time images available to the public.

    The Corte Madera Fire Department has 26 full-time personnel, two fire stations, three Type-1 fire apparatus, two ambulances, two command vehicles, and three utility vehicles.

    FireSafe Marin and community information and education programs such as FIREWISE, and Ready, Set, Go! Are designed to encourage fire-safe practices.

  • We're mostly focused on Redwood Ave near Corte Madera Ave up to Morningside Drive. See the project area map HERE.