Home Events and Projects Fire Safety Courses Information Links Active Fires Press & PR Latest News Press Releases Archives Council Business Login Username Password Latest News Fire Safe Council Gets WISE The Ojai Valley Fire Safe Council received a grant check for $5,000 from State Farm Insurance to assist the Council with Phase 1 development of its Wildfire Information System for Emergencies (WISE) Program. Greg Sherlock, Public Affairs Specialist with State Farm was on hand to deliver the check. "We recognize the importance of local organizations in promoting safety, and we are pleased to support the development of the Fire Safe Council's WISE system through our Good Neighbor Citizenship grant program." Will Castagna, Grants Manager for the Fire Safe Council, explained the genesis of the WISE program: "During the Day Fire incident, we identified three key problems: 1) many people did not know where to get current, accurate information about the fire, 2) some knew about our website but didn't have computer access, and 3) almost no one knew where to get guidance about what to do, or when and where to go in case of evacuation."  The WISE system is designed to address all of these issues. Castagna said, "Our goal is to eventually build a full-featured, high-tech system that will serve as a reliable information hub during wildfire emergencies.  But first, we wanted to be sure that absolutely EVERYONE has access to clear, consistent guidance about what to do, whether they have Internet access or not -- this grant will help us do just that." The first phase of constructing the WISE system is to develop and publish clear information about what to do in a wildfire emergency, as well as when and where to go in case of evacuation.  The idea is to print this information in a local phone book so that virtually everyone will have immediate access to it in an emergency. Bob Daddi, local State Farm Agent and member of the Ojai Valley Fire Safe Council Advisory Council, was instrumental in getting this grant.  Castagna said, "It was actually Bob's idea to publish this information in the phone book.  Simple, low-tech, and universally available -- an extremely effective idea."