Second Weekend of Freeway Complex Fire Exhibit at Chino Hills State Park

Following on the heels of last weekend's opening of an exhibit, sponsored by Hills for Everyone, at the Chino Hills State Park Discovery Center commemorating the fifth anniversary of the Freeway Complex Fire of November 2008, the second and final weekend of the showing is this Saturday and Sunday the 23rd and 24th from 9:00 a.m. to Noon.

These .pdf files of exhibit boards shown at the Chino State Park Discovery Center exhibit to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the 2008 Freeway Complex Fire are courtesy of Hills for Everyone.  Click on a photo to see it and the others show here in a larger view in a separate window.

There is plenty of interesting and informative material to view, including photos, videos, articles and reports dealing specifically with the devastating conflagration, but also fire issues generally.  Exhibit boards showing what happened during and after the fire also provide good visual snapshots of the events of half a decade back.

As noted before, the spate of hillside housing projects like Madrona in Brea and two others in Yorba Linda, now that the economy has grown enough for developers to start selling their wares again in fire-sensitive areas, makes this exhibit timelier than ever. 

The Madrona project, calling for 162 upscale houses on 367 acres, has burned FIVE time in the last several decades.  Yorba Linda experienced devastating home losses in 2008 yet new projects continue to be pitched for areas that will burn again.

Exhibits like this give graphic and vivid testimony to the perils of continuing to build houses in wildfire-prone regions.  As the Madrona project inches closer to a final decision on the appeal of the Brea Planning Commission's narrow (3-2, one of the commissioners who voted for the project resigned this past August and now represents Madrona as a public relations consultant!) approval just weeks before the Freeway Complex Fire erupted. it becomes increasingly necessary for people to become more aware of the wildfire risk.

Thanks to Hills for Everyone for taking the time and effort to provide this important public service.