On a Saturday in late February, I attended a listening session at Pepperdine conducted by LA Supervisor Sheila Kuehl. A host of government officials, including law enforcement, fire officials and many others, listened patiently for several hours as members of the public expressed their opinions. We were each given two minutes to talk, and my bride graciously donated her two minutes to me.
Although I didn’t speak from prepared notes, the following is pretty close to what I said, so I have taken the liberty of putting it in quotations:
“First of all, I want to point out that I have been happily married for over 36 years, and this is the first time in those 36 years that my wife has given me two of her minutes to talk.
Madame Supervisor and members of the task force, my name is Burt Ross, and as a former Mayor of Fort Lee, New Jersey, and as the former Head of the New Jersey State Energy Office, I have been in your shoes, and appreciate your taking time out to listen to us on a Saturday. I also want to acknowledge the presence of our Mayor Jefferson Wagner, our Councilmen Skylar Peak and Mikke Pierson, and our City Manager, Reva Feldman.
I have frequently heard people in and out of government talk about how fires in California are inevitable and it is only a matter of time before another devastating fire will destroy our homes in Malibu. Forgive me, but to accept the unacceptable is itself unacceptable. It is the number one responsibility of government, be it federal, state, county or city, to protect its citizens—to keep us safe.
All I hear is what we, the public, can do to fight the fire in our own backyards. We can provide wider gates, clear the brush around our homes, install sprinklers in our yards and in our homes, and so forth and so on. What I don’t hear is how we can prevent the fire from getting here in the first place.
Imagine for a moment if the president of our country determined we could not effectively stop an invading army, and therefore decided to spend the entire defense budget on attacking the enemy only after it had arrived on our doorsteps. Our citizens would be fully armed to shoot the invaders from our balconies.
Are we not capable of stopping a fire before it crosses the mountains and engulfs our community? Can we not construct up in the hills a fire break of perhaps a half a mile wide made of sand or gravel? The animals could walk across it but nothing would grow or burn there. Sure, some embers would get through, but wouldn’t such a break reduce the scale of a fire so dramatically that our fire fighters would be able to concentrate resources where needed without being spread so thin?
Or could we not create a vast sprinkler system in the hills that would be turned on in anticipation of the fire and could drench vegetation in the fire’s path? This idea has been proposed for years by developer consultant Don Schmitz. We are experiencing a rainy winter, and yet 80 percent or more of the precipitation reportedly ends up in the Pacific Ocean. Israel, which gets only a nominal amount of rain annually, is a net exporter of water. Surely, we can store and utilize this resource to protect our city.
I hear that environmentalists will not allow the installation of a fire break in the mountains. I, too, am an environmentalist, but humans are also part of the environment, and how did the animals do in the Woolsey Fire? Their charred bones are strewn throughout the hills.
Yes, a fire break will cost hundreds of millions of dollars, but what will be the cost to lives and property if we don’t take action? Thank you.”
If you agree with the sentiments expressed in my talk, feel free to contact Supervisor Kuehl, who asks that you email her at sheila@bos.lacounty.gov. I believe that more than anybody else, our county supervisor has our future safety in her hands.