Page 6 - Sonoma County Gazette 12-18.indd

LETTERS cont’d from page 4
the PG&E easement are in a terrible state of overgrowth & ladder fuels, with an abundance of pine trees at the end of their life cycle, drought- stressed and tinder-dry.
Prescribing Opioids
The South entrance of Lee Drive
is at the foot of an un-named creek canyon that cuts up through the heart of our subdivision. A fire starting here would flash through the neighborhood before an alarm could be sounded. It is also the location of
a bad turn in narrow, busy Highway 1, where accidents have happened in the past.
Once you get over to Smith Court, go to the bottom of the cul-de-sac and walk out towards the ocean. (Note the signs spiked to the trees, you
are on the Trail Easement). Looking downhill, you are on the other side of the creek canyon from Lee Drive, and uphill from the power lines. Notice the dead tanbark oaks, everywhere, with no evidence that anyone has even tried to abate even some of the fire danger.
I believe there’s a serious downside to the new, stricter laws on doctors prescribing opioids. A member of
my family stopped drinking 25 years ago and greatly reduced her use of tobacco. After having her prescription for opioids reduced by half, the unbearable pain has led her back to heavy use of both. Is this progress? People with a legitimate need for opioids ae being hurt. Those who have ben abusing it recreationally will find a source anyway.
I ask each and everyone who is concerned about a fire event here in Timber Cove to stand at the South entrance of Lee Drive and look uphill. The entire right side
of the narrow, uphill road is lined with a solid mass of dead and dying vegetation and trees, crowding the single traffic lane. All of the way up the hill; about halfway up the hill, the dead trees form an arc over the roadway, joining with equally dead trees on the other side of the street.
Here’s a quote from a doctor:
In a fire event, it would be impassable; Residents of Lee Drive could not escape, and emergency responders would not be able to reach them. This wall of dead trees, mostly oaks under the dying pines, smothers the creek canyon that parallels Lee uphill. The dead forest, thick from the ground to the crowns of the trees with tinder-dry ladder fuels extends to the south directly over to, and beyond, the Bare Uninsulated High Voltage PG&E Power Lines and on to Busy Highway One.
Halena M. Gazelka, MD, assistant professor of anesthesiology and perioperative medicine and practitioner of pain medicine at
2018 Minnesota based Mayo Clinic, believes limits on prescriptions will do more harm than good.
The dead forest continues uphill along the creek canyon between Smith Court, Lee Drive, Umland Circle, and Rust Drive. This is the worst build-up of ladder fuels of such a concentration, in such a vulnerable area of homes and families. The potential for loss of life and property is very real.
These property owners who
are sitting on the single most dangerous build-up of fire fuels in an inhabited neighborhood are not in any violation. And do not have to clean up a thing, except for a “mow and blow” along the road. They save themselves thousands of dollars they would have to spend to do some true fire abatement. The residents of Lee Drive that would be trapped when the dead trees over the road ignite.
Dr. Gazelka wrote. “They could end up doing more harm than good, by depriving millions of people of the pain relief they desperately, and legitimately, need.”
While driving from Lee to Smith, go slowly along Highway 1 and observe the obvious brown, solid wall of dead vegetation crowding up under the dying Pine trees, pause and try to look up the PG&E power line easement. Although some re-clearing of the actual easement has recently taken place, the dying spindly pine trees looming over the bare power lines, leaning in from the private properties adjacent, are a ticking time bomb.
I am saddened and outraged at once. We need to get beyond this Soap Opera at the Coast that has been playing these last dozen years and stand together against this climate monster. The trees within striking distance of the high voltage lines MUST be removed...NOW.
Here is the problem: Until recently, the Timber Cove Fire Safe Policies would have overseen a methodical inspection and follow-up with the property owners to have the problem abated. That plan has been replaced with a plan where the TCCWD/TCHA report a property to the County Emergency Fire Services and the County cites the property owner.
There is one big difference between the Timber Cove Fire Safe Policies and the
beckershospitalreview.com/ opioids/viewpoints-2-physicians-on- the-pros-cons-of-opioid-prescribing- limits.html
County Ordinance: The County Ordinance only covers the 10’ (TEN FOOT) roadside buffer. That is it. The County does not go beyond the area immediately along the road.
“It goes without saying that opioids should be prescribed in the smallest quantity necessary to address the clinical need, but government limits on the ability of physicians to decide the appropriate use of opioids for their patients aren’t the answer,”
Robert Feuer
LETTERS: email to: vesta@sonic.net
COMMENT on our website articles: LOGIN to our website @ SonomaCounty Gazette.com
We do NOT Have internet cookies and DO NOT sell your data - we don’t even have pop-up ads that get in the way of reading! FREE - Compliments of our Advertisers!
PLEASE SUPPORT our ADVERTISERS!
To get an idea of the vast swath of dead fuels compiled in this creek canyon, go over to Smith Ct, off of Timber Cove Road.
People in charge are playing
games and politics while refusing to acknowledge that a very real danger exists. And that the danger is on their own properties.
6 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 12/18
Sincerely, Tim McKusick Tinber Cove
A pine tree (notoriously shallow- rooted) out of the PG&E easement, but within striking distance of the bare lines will be the match that lights the fuse. The properties surrounding
As to the giant step backwards, the elected Timber Cove Leaders have taken by shelving our Fire Safe Timber Cove Plan and replacing it with a plan that does not address our urban-wildland interface issues, shame on you.