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U.S. NEWS Wednesday 12 december 2018

Official: California must mull

home ban in fire-prone areas

By DON THOMPSON dead trees and thinning
Associated Press forested areas that are
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) crowded with trees that
— California’s increasingly can fuel fires, contrary to
deadly and destructive criticism by President Don-
wildfires have become so ald Trump who has blamed
unpredictable that gov- forest mismanagement for
ernment officials should the fires.
consider banning home “No other state, or even
construction in vulnerable the federal government,
areas, the state’s top fire- are putting the amount of
fighter says. investment into this space
Department of Forestry and as California,” Pimlott said.
Fire Protection Director Ken The department’s philoso-
Pimlott will leave his job Fri- phy for many years has
day after 30 years with the been to stamp out fires
agency. In an interview quickly to protect people
with The Associated Press, In this Nov. 14, 2018, file photo, Ken Pimlott, director of the and property. Prescribed
he said government and California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, left, shows burns were previously used
California Gov. Jerry Brown where smoke is still rising from
citizens must act differently a smoldering tree during a tour of the fire ravaged Paradise sparingly out of concern
to protect lives and prop- Elementary School in Paradise, Calif. they could get out of con-
erty from fires that now rou- Associated Press trol, but he said the de-
tinely threaten large popu- to withstand fires with the ridgetops that are suscepti- partment is making “a sea
lations. expectation hundreds may ble to fires. After a crippling change” by recognizing
That may mean rethinking shelter there as they did drought, the last two years that starting fires under op-
subdivisions in thickly for- in makeshift fashion when have seen the worst fires in timum conditions is a good
ested mountainous areas flames last month largely state history. November’s way to reduce dangerous
or homes along Southern destroyed the Sierra Ne- fire in the northern Califor- fuels.
California canyons lined vada foothills city of Para- nia town of Paradise was Recent fires that have
with tinder-dry chaparral. dise in Northern California. the deadliest U.S. wildfire burned into cities have
Yet Los Angeles County California already has the in a century, killing at least made clear that those pro-
supervisors stung by Cali- nation’s most robust build- 85 people and destroying tections need to be cen-
fornia’s housing shortage ing requirement programs nearly 14,000 homes. tered around vulnerable
approved a massive ru- for new homes in fire-prone A year earlier, a fire that communities, he said. Para-
ral housing development areas, but recent fire sea- ripped through the San dise, for example, was built
Tuesday despite the fire sons underscore more is Francisco Bay Area city of on a ridge atop steep can-
danger. needed. Officials must Santa Rosa killed 22 people yons that helped channel
Developers said the 19,000- consider prohibiting con- and destroyed more than the wind-driven fire, while
home community in rug- struction in particularly vul- 5,000 homes and other wildfires have repeated
ged mountains 65 miles nerable areas, said Pimlott, structures. blown into Northern and
(105 kilometers) north of who has led the agency Every year since at least Southern California subdi-
downtown Los Angeles through the last eight years 2013, firefighters did not visions from neighboring
would be built to minimize under termed-out Gov. Jer- anticipate California’s wildlands thick with tinder-
fire hazards with anti-ember ry Brown. wildfires could get worse, dry fuel.
construction and buffers He said it’s uncertain if Pimlott said. But each year Pimlott rose through the
around homes. It would in- those decisions should be the fires have increased in ranks from seasonal fire-
clude four new fire stations made by local land man- intensity — driven by dry fighter to deputy director
and roads wide enough agers or at the state level fuels, an estimated 129 of fire protection before his
to help people evacuate as legislative leaders have million drought- and bark appointment as chief of
from an area the state has suggested. But Pimlott beetle-killed trees, and cli- the agency.
designated as a “high” said “we owe it” to hom- mate change. In that role he doubles as
and “very high” fire hazard eowners, firefighters and In response, the state is the state’s chief forester
zone. communities “so that they doing more planned burn- and oversees a depart-
Faced with such dangers, don’t have to keep going ing to eliminate brush and ment that includes nearly
California residents should through what we’re going dead trees that serve as 8,000 firefighters, forest
train themselves to respond through.” fuels for wildfires. The state managers and support
more quickly to warnings “We’ve got to continue to will also add seven large staff.
and make preparations to raise the bar on what we’re firefighting aircraft, replace He said he has seen fire
shelter in place if they can’t doing and local land-use a dozen aging helicopters, conditions worsen each
outrun the flames, Pimlott planning decisions have to provide firefighter counsel- passing year during his
said. be part of that discussion,” ing and ensure that fire- three decades with the
Communities in fire zones he said. fighters have enough time agency, taking its toll on
need to harden key build- California’s population off for medical checkups residents and firefighters
ings with fireproof construc- has doubled since 1970 to to help them manage the alike.
tion similar to the way cities nearly 40 million, pushing mental and physical stress “Folks can say what they
prepare for earthquakes, urban sprawl into mountain from a fire season that now want to say, but firefighters
hurricanes or tornadoes, subdivisions, areas home to never ends. are living climate change.
and should prepare com- fast-burning grasslands and He said California leads the It’s staring them in the face
mercial or public buildings along scenic canyons and nation in clearing away every day,” he said.q