Board of Directors

Mission

Our mission is to provide education, exchange information and foster wildfire prevention and fire safety within the County of Contra Costa.

Email to all directors: wccfiresafe@gmail.com

Marilyn Saarni

Chair

Marilyn has been part of WCCFSC from its birth. She is also the lead for the Richmond Firewise Garden at Richmond Fire Station #63, launching in 2026. She is certified in Sustainable Firescaping by Rescape (2022) and has been trained as a Defensible Space Assessor through CalFire. Marilyn has an AB from UC Berkeley in Earth Sciences, focusing on geological risk assessment—a perspective she brings to her focus on Wildfire Preparedness, firewise gardening and home hardening. She also volunteers with UC Master Gardeners of Contra Costa, where she is the Firewise Project co-lead.

mesaarni@gmail.com

Ra Criscitiello

Secretary

Ra Criscitiello, Esq. grew up in New England and now lives in El Sobrante. She works for a healthcare workers labor union and is also passionate about wildfire mitigation, especially goat grazing on steep hillsides in the wildland urban interface. On her El Sobrante acre, Ra has goats, chickens, and bees. Ra also serves as Secretary of the Diablo Fire Safe Council.

Amandeep Sbajwa

Treasurer

More to come soon!

Soheila Bana

Liaison to Agencies

Soheila has advanced emergency preparedness in the 94803 area, built partnerships with sister Fire Safe Council organizations across the East Bay Hills, helped launch the East Bay Wildfire Coalition (EBWC) across Contra Costa and Alameda governments, and helped catalyze Richmond’s first Fire Station Open Houses and evacuation drills. She is one of the founders of WCCFSC.

SoheilaBana@gmail.com

Dan Genova

Preparedness Lead

Dan completed the 2025 City of Richmond, California Richmond CERT Academy, and completed the CERT Train-The-Trainer Training in 2026. He is the North and East Neighborhood CERT Lead.

wccfscpreparedness@gmail.com

Allison Blakeley

Director at Large

I know people who lost everything in the Santa Rosa fires. I know a couple who lives near Ukiah, who were awakened at 1 am by a telephone emergency alert; they looked out their kitchen window to see a huge terrifying fire coming over the hill towards them. The wife told me, “Thank God for the landline because the cell phones weren’t working.”

So when Marilyn Saarni asked if I wanted to use a UC Master Gardeners grant to take the course RescapeCA offers for certification in firewise landscaping, I said yes! And when she invited me to join the WCCFSC, I said yes!

allisongblakeley@gmail.com

Rocky (Royce) Saunders

Director at Large

Rocky has over 30 years of experience in government and business including emergency management and legislative affairs. He has held senior staff positions at the California State Senate and the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, and was the Emergency Manager for the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He is also a cofounder of an earthquake warning technology company.

roycesaunders10@comcast.net