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Saturday, 30 May 2009 |
By Erick Sugimura
Mammoth Times Staff Writer
 Mammoth Times Photo/Erick Sugimura. Roberta Regelbrugge and Fire Chief Brent Harper speak to the Mammoth Lakes Rotary Club
The purpose of the Fire Safe Council is to preserve both natural and man-made resources through community education, being proponents of defensible space, obtaining grants and working with local fire agencies. Through these actions, communities and fire agencies can save money and time while minimizing loss of life and property damage.
“If there would be a wildfire to come through the area, it would devastate the community and the tourist industry,” Regelbrugge said.
She went on to describe how low and mid intensity fires are natural and good for the ecosystem – reducing fuels and returning nutrients to the soil – but that high intensity fires can destroy property and wildlife habitat.
As an example, Regelbrugge said that a wildfire could start in the lakes basin and quickly move through town. “If you are a fire safe community, you can deal with that fire on a much less intense basis.”
Also, insurance companies favor fire safe communities.
Chief Harper spoke to the evolution of fire season, whether due to global warming or some other reason.
“They’re getting longer and it’s more difficult to contain these fires,” Harper said. He added that fire season in Mammoth has changed from a couple months to a solid three month period.
Chief Harper also discussed the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI), the area where human dwellings and structures meet forested or natural lands.
Pertaining to the WUI, there has been an accumulation of fuels, more homes being built within the WUI, a reduction in firefighting forces, more laws and codes regulating fire-safe buildings and requirements, more strict insurance agency policies and the growing potential for neighbors filing suit against neighbors.
Harper elaborated on the last point to say that this could be possible if, for example, one person maintains appropriate defensible space, but their neighbor doesn’t and “his lot burns you down.”
Regelbrugge related a story about being evacuated from her home in Southern California during last year’s fire season. When she returned to her home, she found a yellow ribbon tied to it indicating that firefighters deemed her house to be not saveable should it catch on fire.
“That was a wake up call,” Regelbrugge said, noting that it was because high risk fire conditions around her home made it too dangerous a space for firefighters to work in.
“There’s no house, nothing, worth a firefighters life,” she acknowledged.
Chief Harper echoed this sentiment and added that the growing intensity of fire season, paired with state cuts to fire protection districts, have made the need for community support all the more important.
Harper also noted that this year will see the first citations going out in areas around town where fuel reduction work was done two years ago, if owners haven’t kept up on clearing their land. A additional possibility for uncooperative landowners would be for the fire department to clean up an area and put a lien on the property.
The Fire Safe Council is seeking participation from local businesses and homeowners, help in recruiting a strong board and media support.
The pubic is invited to attend the next Fire Safe Council meeting on June 24 at 5 p.m. upstairs in Fire Station One on Main Street.
Anyone interested in supporting the Fire Safe Council or with any questions should call Roberta Regelbrugge at (760) 914-1412. |
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Last Updated ( Friday, 05 June 2009 )
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