Last year’s fires raised awareness among residents
By LAUREN BONIFACIO Special to the Daily Press
While spared from the devastation of October’s wildfires, the Santa Monica Mountains and other local forest areas will be at risk amid the upcoming fire season, officials say.
San Diego and San Bernandino counties were hit the hardest last year, but strong winds, high temperatures and low humidity could combine to make areas in Los Angeles County prime targets for wildfires in the coming months, said LA County Fire Department spokesman John Mancha.
“We always prepare for the worst,” he said.
Firefighting agencies across Southern California are gearing up for the fire season, an eight-month period beginning in mid-May that typically consists of dry conditions and rising temperatures.
Along with the Santa Monica Mountains, areas in Malibu, Topanga Canyon and the Antelope Valley are overgrown with trees that could fuel a potential fire, said Bill Patzert, a climatologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. “And then you pile the drought on top of that and (a wildfire) is definitely good to go.”
The area has seen reduced rainfall since it was drenched by the El Nino phenomenon in 1998. During the subsequent six-year drought, this year is the driest yet, said Patzert, who follows large-scale, long-term climate variations based on changes in ocean temperatures.
“The drought has been so severe that we have literally tens of millions of dead trees in the local forests,” he said. “Talk about tinder... it is a forest of standing matchsticks.”
“The drought has been so severe that we have literally tens of millions of dead trees in the local forests. Talk about tinder... it is a forest of standing matchsticks.” — — BILL PATZERT Climatologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
This week, Gov. Arnold Schwarzen-egger’s Blue Ribbon Commission made several recommendations to prevent destruction from future wildfires. Established by former Gov. Gray Davis and Schwarzenegger following the fires last year, the commission drafted a nearly 250-page report that proved inconclusive as to how the recommendations should be funded.
A local group has its own recommendations.
A national-or state-wide fire science research institute should be established to pool research and most effectively use the government’s limited funds, the Aerial Fire Protection Associates proposed in a February hearing of the Blue Ribbon Commission.
The AFPA is a Topanga Canyon-based citizens group that was established after the 1993 Malibu-Topanga Canyon wildfires. The goal of the group, which will soon be applying for non-profit status, is to gather information, make recommendations and raise funds to help support fire agencies, AFPA founder Tony Morris said.
“Right now, we have scattered capability to study wildfires. There’s nothing in one location,” Morris said. “We want to share our findings with basically the entire country.”
Another top area of concern for fire agencies is the beetle-ravaged pine forests from Big Bear to San Diego, said Michael Padilla, chief of aviation at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF). Last year, firefighters fiercely protected the dead pine forests from sparking up — only 10 percent of the bug-infested trees were burned.
“That’s what the scary part is, that whole area still has the potential that it had last year,” Padilla said.
Whatever the fuel, the results could be deadly. Twenty-four people lost their lives within the two-week stretch of raging wildfires at the end of October. Nearly 740,000 acres of land across Southern California burned, and more than 3,600 homes were destroyed.
In hindsight, state and national budget problems in recent years probably raised the stakes of last year’s fires, Patzert said.
The patches of dead trees — or in fire terminology, “fuel” — scattered across the state would have been cleared out if the funding had been available, Patzert said.
The CDF is struggling to stretch out its resources. The department is given eight months’ worth of money to operate during the peak wildfire months, even while fire dangers across the state have forced it to operate on a year-round basis, Padilla said.
“Now we’re running air tankers year-round and it’s just to a point where... we’re really pressed to keep aircraft operational,” Padilla said.
The sheer strength of the wildfires last year were beneficial in one aspect — they brought fire safety to the forefront of Southern Californians’ minds, officials said.
“I think with the graphic evidence, with TV, seeing what the dangers and hazards of the fire can create, it just keeps everyone more aware,” Mancha said.
As the wildfire season approaches, LA County is conducting compliance inspections to reduce fire hazards. Residents are eager to try and protect themselves, Padilla said.
“It’s not falling on deaf ears,” Padilla said. “When people become aware of the danger to themselves, it makes it easier for the firefighters to be able to deal with it.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 17, 2004. Read the original PDF.