Community input is sought for the plan that would offer guidelines on how to prepare in the event of a fire.
By Michael Aushenker / Special to The Malibu Times
A handful of Malibu residents showed up for a meeting last week at city hall to discuss the progress of the Santa Monica Mountains Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP). Representatives from key fire safety departments at the Aug. 18 meeting emphasized that public comments on the draft are due by Sept. 15.
J. Lopez, deputy forester of the fire plan unit at the Forestry Division of the County of Los Angeles Fire Department, Kathryn Kirkpatrick, fire chief with the National Park Service (NPS) and Julie Clark De Blasio of the Mountains Restoration Trust were on hand to discuss the draft fire plan. Fire Communication and Education Specialist Mike Wilson for the NPS led a short presentation, which was followed by discussion.
The Malibu residents at the gathering included Clark Stevens, an executive officer with the Resources Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains, longtime Malibu resident Tony Schaffer and longtime Big Rock residents Georgia Goldfarb, Juergen Cords and Rosemarie Inde.
Available online, the plan is still in the draft stage and open to community input. Twenty meetings have taken place in the past year, and the community input from these gatherings has been incorporated into the current draft, which addresses such topics as “fire safety starts in the home,” “risk assessment: identifying and evaluating assets at risk,” “ecology and management of the Santa Monica Mountains vegetation types,” “fire safety in the Santa Monica Mountains over the long term” and an “action plan.”
Wilson explained that the CWPP is specific to the Santa Monica Mountains and its “Mediterranean eco system.”
Kirkpatrick noted, “Our fire behavior is not the same as in other places,” citing the “coastal influences, the mountains” that shape wildfires here.
Irked by problems with neighbors regarding brush clearance and tree trimming, the Big Rock contingent in attendance was anxious for the NPS and fire department representatives to act now to clamp down on residents who, through passivity or purposefully, were violating CWPP guidelines by not clearing brush on and around their properties. A survivor of Malibu fires in 1966 and 1993, Cords voiced his fear that it will happen again and that his community is unprepared.
“My neighbors have trees that are not maintained,” Cords said. “Every year, I call the fire department and I don’t see any action.”
Shaffer criticized the molasses-like response by city and state officials to address such issues.
“I’ve been in the business for 40 years,” Schaeffer said. “It took me five years to get two palms removed. And I’m in the business.”
Wilson and the other officials patiently and repeatedly stressed that the CWPP was a manual, and “not a regulatory document,” and that the purpose of the meeting was not law enforcement.
“It’s a reference guide, an information guide,” Wilson said. “It’s a living tool. We’ll continue to add to it. It’s going to be changing. It’s going to reside with the local fire departments.”
“[The CWPP] is not about telling people what to do,” Stevens said. “It gives us the opportunity to take care of it ourselves.”
“This tool will help you take the steps to work on these issues,” Lopez said.
The fire safety officials added that the CWPP would provide a foundation for conducting educational classes and obtaining grants to address fire issues in their communities.
Inde expressed her frustration with neighbors who may not be motivated enough to read the CWPP and wondered how one might get such a person to read the plan.
“Do you bake?” Lopez responded, eliciting laughter.
Kirkpatrick suggested taking some of the informational discs available at the meeting and leaving them in neighbors’ mailboxes.
Lopez encouraged the Big Rock residents to hold a meeting in their community to confront these issues. He promised to conduct the meeting and to tour the area a few hours prior with the residents to see their complaints firsthand. Goldfarb agreed to organize a fall meeting, with a date to be determined soon.
The city hall visit was the second of the week, following a Ventura County Fire Station 56 meeting. The officers also discussed the CWPP in Topanga Canyon and at the Malibu West Beach Club.
The public draft of the CWPP is available on disc or online at forevergreenforestry.com/SantaMonicaMountainsCWPP.html.
Comments on the CWPP must be submitted no later than Sept. 15 by e-mail to santamonicamountainscwpp@gmail.com or by mail to: J. Lopez, Deputy Forester, Fire Plan and Forestry Technical Operations Units, 12605 Osborne St., Pacoima, CA 91331-2129.