Mission
Our mission is to provide education, exchange information and foster wildfire prevention and fire safety within the County of Contra Costa.
Officers
Soheila
Founder and Chair
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.
SoheilaBana@gmail.com
Marilyn Saarni
Vice Chair
Marilyn has been part of WCCFSC from its birth. Her role includes running meetings, website, and filling in gaps. She is also the lead for the Richmond Firewise Garden launching in 2026. Marilyn has an AB from UC Berkeley in Earth Sciences, focusing on geological risk assessments—a perspective she brings to her focus on Wildfire Preparedness. She also volunteers with UC Master Gardeners of Contra Costa, where she is Firewise Gardening lead. Away from firewise gardening, Marilyn can be found in her garden, or running her dogs Arlo and Sofie.
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.
Sue Boudreau, M.Ed.
Treasurer
Building and protecting my community at the wildland-urban interface where we live is very important to me, so I am happy to support WCCFSC with their vital work. I’m a retired science teacher, and now a podcaster and a graduate student in conservation science. I run a poetry open mic and a monthly community forum on restoring nature, restoring ourselves at the Triangle Works, with friends from the neighborhood. I love to hike and bike the hills with my dog Mitzi.
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
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