The Lake County Fire Safe Council would like to express our sincere thanks to everyone who made Lake County’s first Wildfire Safety Expo a success.

The support from our local fire protection districts was wonderful, and we’re deeply grateful for their participation and assistance. Having all the districts participate in the event was truly exciting. We especially appreciate their time and effort in helping to organize this first-time event.

Our thanks to Cal Fire, the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management for their strong support and help in making our first event such a success. The expo was a great example of the partnership of local, state, and federal fire protection agencies coming together to serve the local citizens, and it was inspiring to see.

When it comes to partnerships, we can’t say enough about what a pleasure it was to work with Kelseyville Lumber. We’re grateful for the use of their facility, and value the assistance they gave from the planning phase, and throughout the day of the event. We look forward to working with them again, and are thankful for their generosity and belief in the Wildfire Safety Expo. Thanks also to Woody’s Café for offering that wonderful outdoor barbecue! As always, the food was great.

To the County of Lake, and the businesses, agencies and organizations that participated; thank you so much for helping our community be better prepared for this year’s fire season. We’ve already received many positive comments about the information, products, and services that were displayed at the expo, and we thank you for spending the day with us. We look forward to working with all of you next year.

Congratulations to Dan Critser of Kelseyville for being the lucky winner of the weed trimmer that was raffled during the event. We’re especially grateful to the estimated 500 citizens who took the time to visit the Wildfire Safety Expo. They were able to learn what they could do to protect their homes and help our firefighters.

As residents of Lake County, we know that fire season is not to be taken lightly. We appreciate those residents who understand that they should not rely on the fire departments alone to protect all the homes in Lake County. Visitors to this event made the effort to learn what they could do to help their homes survive a wildfire.

To our firefighters; to the men and women from our local, state, and federal fire protection agencies … thanks to all of you for the job you do, and for your dedication and commitment to protecting communities not only during wildfire season, but all year long.

We sincerely hope that the Wildfire Safety Expo helped Lake County’s citizens learn more about what they need to do to help you do your jobs. Most important, we hope they learned what they can do to help keep you safe.

Linda Juntunen is coordinator for the Lake County Fire Safe Council.