"Fire is integral to the natural ecosystem" in Topanga, said Suzanne Goode, Senior Environmental Scientist, Angeles Division. "It's not a question of ‘if,' it's a question of ‘when.'" Topanga Canyon is designated as a Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI), a populated area within the boundaries of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. If you have ever experienced a fire raging through the Canyon, you will want to do everything you can to protect your home in the event of a fire like the one in 1993. Here is your opportunity.
"The first thing that happened was that we lost our water and we had no way to defend," remembered David Chadwick, long-time Topanga resident present during the '93 fire. The goal of the WUI is to assist residents in preparing their property for just such a circumstance by, in effect, pre-defending their property through fire hazard reduction, which extends to much more than simple brush clearance.
Thanks to the Healthy Forest Restoration Act of 2003 (HFRA), there is a framework within which WUI communities can obtain federal grants to help homeowners reduce what fires feed on. Joint agencies of the National Parks Service, Los Angeles County Fire Department, and the State Parks, as well as private organizations and businesses, are assisting neighborhood groups to identify and prioritize their fire-protection needs and write Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPPs) to obtain these grants.
The first of three meetings this month to organize the Topanga Community around wildfire protection, was held at the Topanga Christian Fellowship Church on Sunday, June 7. Approximately 50 people from the Old Topanga/Skyline/Bonnell and other neighborhoods in T-CEP Zones 2 and 5 took time out of their weekend to listen to state parks and LA fire department representatives speak to the issue.
Suzanne Goode, Senior Environmental Scientist, Angeles Division, facilitated the meeting and gave an overview of southern California's eco-system. "Few fires are caused by lightening, [the only natural ignition source of fires]; most fires are caused by humans." According to National Park Service statistics, 97 percent of fires are human-caused, primarily by arcing power lines and arson and, as the population has grown, so have the number of fires. In addition, recent research at UC San Diego estimate that as a result of climate change, the fire season in the western US has been extended by 78 days. With fire return intervals now down to every 11 or 12 years, it is more important than ever that Topanga Canyon residents take steps to pro-actively defend their property.
Fire Management Officer for the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area Mediterranean Coast Network, Kathryn Kirkpatrick, spoke about wildfire behavior (fire travels 16 times faster uphill) and how fire-wise landscaping, i.e., landscaping with fire-resistant plants, can help maintain defensible space around your home. For instance, the leathery-leafed chaparral is better able to distribute water when it does rain, and will also withstand long periods of drought. Chaparral roots hold the mountains up, don't need watering and protects from mudslides. "If we can manipulate the fuel," said Kirkpatrick, "we can better predict fire behavior."
As for brush-clearing, start from the house out. "Clear but reduce," advised J. Lopez, Deputy Forester of the LAFD Fire Plan Unit, Forestry Division Prevention Bureau. "Annual brush clearance doesn't mean get rid of every plant. Clear the grasses to three inches and prune bushes."
"Brush clearing is mandatory to 100 feet," Goode reminded everyone, "but clearing for 200 feet is recommended," and is at the discretion of the fire department.
"It's a long-term commitment," said Lopez. "You clear throughout the year." Kirkpatrick added that the firefighters do a "defensible space triage." They will look at the property, but if they don't think they can save it, they will move on to the next house. The determining factor is how well the homeowner has created the defensible space around the home.
All of this was not especially new information to a community used to fires and when the discussion opened people were eager with questions about oak tree removal or trimming ("Get a permit, always get a permit," Lopez advised), neighbors who don't clear ("Call me," said Lopez), and most of all, how to begin the CPWW application process.
"So far, this has been a pilot project," said Kirkpatrick. "It's complicated and takes time. It took the West Hillside Drive Neighborhood Association nine months before they actualized their first grant of $40,000." They recently received a second grant for $65,250 to continue the process in their area (See "Hillside Homeowners Win $100,000 in Firesafe Grants," Messenger, Vol 32 No 10, May 21, 2009). All three presenters stated emphatically that there is strong multi-agency support available for this community effort on many different levels, from organizing the neighbors to writing and applying for funding.
Similar efforts in Malibu were successful enough to encourage the partnering agencies–CA Fire Alliance, CA State Parks, Mountains Restoration Trust, LACoFD, and National Parks Service–to hold these meetings in hopes of spurring Topanga residents to action. Firefighters and other agencies can do just so much. If people want to protect their homes from fire, they are now invited to partner with these agencies, sharing specifics of what needs to be done on a neighborhood scale (10 to a few hundred homes).
Penny Chavez, along with Rick Davis, Robin Becker and Jim Chryssanthis, created Skyline Homeowners as their group. Under the mentorship of Joyce Wisdom, who was instrumental in helping to obtain the grants for the West Hillside group, they became grant writers for Zones 2 and 5.
Chavez and her group worked hard to make the cut last year. "The grant cycles have a once-a-year opportunity for your grant to be considered," she explains. "We applied for the Fire Safe Council Grant, but didn't get it. There were 400 applicants, $70 million was asked for, but only $22 million was available; half of that amount, $11.5 million, was reserved for northern California, with 144 grants given throughout state. The next sequence to apply for this grant is October. Our proposal will get a second chance at that time," she says optimistically.
The HFRA 2003 made it possible for federal land management agencies to give consideration to the priorities of communities in the WUI, such as the unincorporated areas of Malibu and Topanga. They determined that these "fine-scale" CWPPs, determined by community organization and initiative, enhanced government-identified fire-hazard, resource-value and feasibility of treatment methods.
This model requires substantial community organization prior to beginning the planning process. Even before writing a grant, the group must meet together and identify areas of hazardous vegetation, then prioritize what steps to take to protect homes, identify evacuation routes and/or critical infrastructure. The primary responsibility for implementation is with the homeowners but guidance from NPS and LACoFD is always at hand. Completion and approval of the plan (CWPP) then allows NPS to use federal funds for fuel reduction on private lands. Homeowners, however, remain personally responsible for addressing structural ignitability issues.
The NPS is developing the model to prioritize future communities using defined resource protection and hazard mitigation criteria and outlining measures that homeowners can take to prevent their individual homes from catching fire. Each CWPP requires collaboration by local, state and federal agencies with homeowners and many other interested parties, among them insurance companies and environmental groups. For example, the Hillside group was sponsored by the National Association of State Foresters, the International Fire Chiefs Association and the Wilderness Society, Wisdom notes. "But the chief driving force is the NPS and Kathy Kirkpatrick partnering with the Fire Department," she adds.
The second meeting, held Thursday, June 11, at Topanga Elementary School, focused on the Fernwood area, T-CEP zones 7, 8 and 9. Nearly 100 people attended, and Susanna Hecht (with assistance of Lee Rhoads) has expressed a preliminary interest in being on the committee.
The third meeting, held on June 17 at the Community House for West and East Hillside/Summit/Mesa and other neighborhoods in T-CEP Zone 6, took place after the Messenger press deadline, but will be covered, if there is new information (see related article, Readiness Report, p. 18).
Save the Dates
Two fire expos, "Living in the Fire Zone," will take place on Saturday, June 20, at Fire Station 89, 29575 Canwood Street, Agoura Hills, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and on Saturday, June 27, at Bluffs Park, 24250 Pacific Coast Hwy, Malibu, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. They will provide information on how to prepare your home, land and evacuation plan in the event of a wildland fire event. Exhibitors and vendors will provide information and emergency supplies, fire-resistant improvements, personal protective equipment and firefighting systems and products that can be applied by homeowners prior to evacuating.
