The following was addressed to county supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky. As you well know, this is going to be the worst fire session ever. I live on Mulholland Highway, just east of Kanan Road, an area well known for racing motorcycles and cars every weekend. It’s not enough to worry about one of these racers crashing and starting a brush fire, but all the motorcycles with modified exhaust (after-market muffler or no muffler at all) have no spark arrestor and are only feet from all the dry brush. I am requesting that you contact the sheriff and CHP and have them start upholding the vehicle codes for racing and lack of spark arrestors.
I would also like you to take a drive, on a Sunday afternoon, from Sierra Creek Road west to Kanan Road (approximately four miles) to see for yourself all the racers, loud motorcycles, skid marks from racer crashes, burnout, etc. See how dense the brush is. I was told that the last fire here was in 1978.
This is a time bomb and a problem throughout Malibu and all the mountains. I believe that restricting all motorcycles from the canyons on red flag alert days is warranted. A ban all summer this year would be even better. A big problem is the Rock Store on Mulholland that attracts the motorcycles, serves beer and is a neighborhood nuisance on the weekends. How about restricting their hours or the number of customers at one time? If you take that drive, you will pass the Rock Store and see 75 to 200 motorcycles there and they all ride east and west on Mulholland many times. I have counted as many as 357 passing my house on a Sunday. Let’s not just roll the dice with fires and hope for the best. You have the power to save lives and homes. Please use it.
A. Fleming