Fire Prevention

By Leah Mirsch

Enable Residents to Identify and Remove Fire Fuels From Their Canyons and Hillsides

Several factors contribute to the fact that many people are unaware of the amount of brush on their property:

• The brush may not be readily visable.
• The fire department gave them an "o.k." on their annual inspection, so everything must be fine.
• Some may not realize the overgrown area is part of their property, thinking that since it's near the trail or other common areas it's the City or Association's property and responsibility.

I believe the City could have a major impact on this large group of responsible residents by doing the following:

• Educate individual residents about the fire fuel on their property
• Work with the County Fire Department to expand their annual inspections to include canyons and hillsides in addition to areas immediately surrounding structures.
• Working zone-by-zone and prioritizing risk areas, provide aerial photos of the brush, and with each prperty owner's parcel clearly depicted.
• Facilitate the process of clearing the brush by providing resouces such as a list of reliable vendors.
• Explore the possibility of some financial incentives, perhaps a discounted rate by the recommended vendors, etc.

Our home is located in the area impacted by the last two major fires so I am very aware of and concerned about this issue; I want the brush cleared. My suggestions would target the majority of compliant and responsible owners, without incurring many liabilities on the City.

I realize that, for various reasons, some owners may not remove their brush, no matter how we try to "assist" them. In those cases further measures are required. I believe City Council has the ability to work on ways to use existing ordanances to deal with an individual situation.

Until such a situation presents itself, I say go after the "low hanging fruit" and get the results we want - help our neighbors recognize their impact on the safety of their community and help them remediate the problem.