Community Leaders Lead Wildfire Mitigation Efforts in the Bay Area’s Underserved Areas
PALO ALTO, Calif. — Wildfires are now “something that can happen at any time of the year” for the Bay Area as noted by Ralph Borrmann, Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) public information officer. It’s precisely why BAAQMD launched their Wildfire Air Quality Resource Center in 2019 to help Bay Area residents navigate their new reality.
California is considered to be the most wildfire-prone state in the United States. The 21st century spike in California’s wildfire frequency is a direct byproduct of climate change. In 2020 alone, Wildfires burned through 4.2 million acres of Californian land. According to Stanford University’s Doerr School of Sustainability, wildfire smoke exposure caused over 40,000 “excess deaths” between 2011 and 2020. When buildings catch fire, debris emits smoke laced with particulates which can travel into people’s lungs and cause coughing, a weakened immune system, and in more severe cases, hospitalization for respiratory illness, or death primarily due to airway obstruction.
Dalila Adofo, a lifelong Bay Area resident, environmental advocate and board chair of Youth United for Community Action (YUCA), noted that a series of wildfires in the late 2010s was her “wake up call.”Adofo’s “asthma started to be really affected” and she “had a really hard time breathing.” She wasn’t alone. Adofo was raised in East Palo Alto — a separate, neighboring municipality from Palo Alto — whose majority Black and Latine, low-income population is “overburdened” by the impacts of poor air quality, including wildfire smoke. Her previous lifelong advocacy against air pollution has focused on Bay Area’s environmental frontline communities, such as Bayview-Hunterspoint in San Francisco.
Community advocates, regional agencies, and municipal governments are rising to the challenge of wildfire smoke in different ways. When it comes to protecting civilians, personal protective equipment (PPE) and updated air filtration installments are two key mitigation measures emphasized in the BAAQMD’s Wildfire Air Quality Response Program. The program primarily functions as a “resource page” with live air quality maps, occasional resiliency-focused grants, and information about the Bay Area’s efforts to combat wildfire impacts.
To alleviate environmental disparities, California has identified neighborhoods with high concentrations of populations most vulnerable to health impacts from wildfire smoke. For these communities, there is a state-sponsored effort to “make air purifiers available” free of cost, combined with air filter installations at surrounding public schools. In tandem with the BAAQMD’s efforts, there are several community organizations also pushing for wildfire resilience, including El Concilio of San Mateo County, California.
El Concilio’s mission is to provide bilingual community services to “primarily, the Hispanic population of the Central Valley” in California. Sonia Escobedo is an East Palo Alto resident, and Climate Ready Ambassador with El Concilio. The Climate Ready Ambassador program takes El Concilio’s volunteers, predominantly monolingual Spanish-speakers, through a series of climate education sessions about the risks of climate change and how to communicate with their neighbors about climate risks. Escobedo said she enrolled in the ambassador program to know how to better prepare for wildfire smoke emergencies, and to “be prepared for when community members come to me” for advice. Tasks she assists with in her role include teaching East Palo Alto residents how to check air quality alerts online, and how to protect their indoor air quality during wildfires. Meanwhile, Adofo detailed how community members have created guides on how to safely craft low cost air filters, alongside the “sharing of personal stories” to educate others on the dangers of wildfire smoke.
Despite existing solutions, both Escobedo and Adofo noted room for improvement. Taking into consideration East Palo Alto’s large Hispanic population, Esocobedo noted the importance of “education in a way that’s accessible,” and in Spanish as one key measure to spread awareness about the dangers of wildfire smoke. Adofo specifically noted the need for “allowing more accessibility for tribes to do cultural burns, and being able to integrate traditional ecological knowledge” to prevent wildfires in the first place. She also emphasized the need for “more air filters in community spaces” beyond public schools.
Fortunately for Bay Area residents, some municipal governments are centering wildfire mitigation in their climate response programs. In Palo Alto City Council’s Sustainability Climate Action Plan (SCAP) for 2026-27, section 58 includes the “Foothills Fire Management Plan.” Two key aspects of the plan focus on moving certain electrical wires underground, and shrubbery management in the surrounding area. One member of Palo Alto City Council’s Sustainability and Climate Action Committee is Run on Climate Local Climate Policy Network affiliate, George Lu. Similar to Palo Alto’s SCAP, East Palo Alto’s Climate Resilience webpage features a guide on navigating Air Pollution & Smoke for residents.
From the progress made by the BAAQMP, community groups, and local governments, the fight against wildfires will continue in earnest throughout the Bay Area.
*Cover Image Depicts Smoke from the North Complex fire settles over San Francisco, Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Correction: A previous version of this article misspelled Dalila Adofo’s last name as “Adolfo.” It has also been changed to reflect her status as an affiliate of YUCA, rather than an active organizer, and to clarify that she has not made any air-filter guides herself.
Additional Correction: A previous version of this article linked the website of El Concilio of California, rather than El Concilio of San Mateo County.