Carbon Canyon Fire Safe Council Presentation on Wildfire House Hardening

 At its regular monthly meeting last night, the Carbon Canyon Fire Safe Council hosted a presentation by Allied Disaster Defense, a West Covina company that provides services for fire damage restoration as well as house hardening for protection against wildfires.

While the Council does not endorse the company or its products and services, it offered the presentation as a service to Carbon Canyon residents to get educated about the latest recommendations, endorsed by fire officials and others, to protect houses for wildfires.

The presentation was recorded and is well worth a look by anyone residing in the Canyon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_4_qsEGuZU.

While we had ample rainfall this past winter, we cannot get complacent about the ongoing risk of wildfire, especially because there is a lot more plant material and hot weather, such as the heat dome now affecting inland areas and much of northern California, can quickly dry out much of that material and significantly elevate the fire risk.  Moreover, there will be mandated changes to what the state will allow in terms of plant and other flammable material around houses, especially as insurance companies continue to drop customers in high fire zones.

For more about the Council, check out its website: www.carboncanyonfsc.org.

Wildfires, Development Planning and Carbon Canyon's Future

As wildfires have been raging through the greater Los Angeles area in recent days, there is renewed discussion about the continuing problem of building homes in and very near wildland areas.

An editorial in yesterday's edition of the Los Angeles Times by Richard Halsey of the California Chaparral Institute takes on the issue of planning for development in the face of the increasing threat of fire.

This follows two recent articles in the same paper about the role of wind in wildfires and on new research concerning Arctic ice melt and increasing high pressure systems that will send rain emanating from systems in the Pacific north and away from our area causing more drought.

Halsey began his piece by noting that, while major wildfires are a natural element of California history and life, "the destruction of our communities is not."  The result is that

Many of the political leaders we elect and planning agencies we depend upon to create safe communities have failed us.  They have allowed developers to build in harm's way, and left firefighters holding the bag.

He continued noting that tough questions need to be asked "about the true cost of expanding the local tax base with new residences in high fire hazard zones."  He lamented "the same conversation over and over again . . . laced with non-sequiturs and focused on outdated, ineffective solutions."

Halsey pointed out that there are many cited reasons for the recent explosion of huge wildfires in forest and wildland areas:  too many dead trees (there are many killed from pest infestations exacerbated by drought); climate change (it does play a major role, but there are fires that can't be blamed on this); and fire policies of suppression that allow for more chaparral to grow, though he noted that's the only way these tough plants grow naturally.

He observed that clearing habitat, such as brush and trees, are a standard planning tool, costing huge sums, but houses still burn anyway.  This policy inspired a recent bill in the House of Representatives calling for more logging in the western United States—a cynical view is that this is an excuse to reintroduce logging as a political ploy rather than represent an attempt to deal with wildfires!

Halsey wrote:

While vegetation management such as fuel breaks and prescribed burns can help during non-extreme fire events, they do little to suppress extreme events . . . we need to protect communities from fires that actually do the damage.

He continued that what this means is to look at fire policies as social, not natural, because building homes in wildland areas introduces the former into the latter and changes the conditions that lead to conflagrations.

Halsey cautioned that:

Planning agencies need to push back against pro-development forces in government, whose willingness to build in known fire corridors borders on criminal neglect.

Then, more locally, stricter fire codes for new developments calling for elements like external sprinklers for eaves and roofs (as is done in Australia, another area hit by frequent wildfires) and retrofitting older structures and more "proper defensible space regulations" are called for.  He wrote that "such policies would cost significantly less than the $9.4 billion [in] wildfire-related claims submitted statewide as of Friday."

Halsey pointed to CalFire, the statewide fire agency, and its policy of addressing vegetation management, rather than looking at protecting property and life.  He noted that the local mountain communities of Big Bear City and Idyllwild have adopted the use of better roofing and venting systems with grants from the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA).  Notably, FEMA grants were used for vegetation clearance around neighborhoods in Carbon Canyon, but Halsey would certainly recommend foregoing that for the retrofitting done in those cities.

He concluded by observing that "trees, shrubs, grasses, or homes will all provide the necessary fuel for a wildfire.  It's part of California's story."  He linked wildfires with other natural disasters, suggesting:

As we do with earthquakes and floods, our goals should be to reduce the damage when wildfires arrive, not pretend we can prevent them from happening at all.  That mindset starts at the planning department, not the fire station.

 What this trilogy of pieces in the Times demonstrates is that the risk of wildfire in our region and, specifically in Carbon Canyon, will only increase.  Those of us already living here have to be contend with the consequences and which will only worsen as climactic conditions change and as more housing is built in the area.

As the Hidden Oaks development, proposing 107 houses south of Carbon Canyon Road and across from the 76-unit Hillcrest now being built, and more projects are forthcoming, it is apparent that, while fire supppression and and fighting policies and procedures have been improved in many areas, the intensity and frequency of wildfires have also increased.  Planners need to take this into account and elected officials need to be more educated when confronting the immense lobbying power of groups like the Building Industry Association.

With valleys and plains just about fully developed, the only open areas left to developers are foothill, canyon and mountain areas that are the areas that burn most often and hardest.  Current Canyon residents confront mounting challenges of traffic congestion and fire risk and the need for planners and officials to adequately address these issues is greater as the canyon faces greater risk.

Carbon Canyon Fire Safe Council Upcoming Events

The Rim Fire in Yosemite National Park and surrounding areas is moving quickly towards being one of the biggest, if not the largest, wildfires in California history.  Major conflagrations have occurred in the drought-stricken western states like Colorado and Arizona, as well as in other parts of California. 

Unfortunately, prolonged drought conditions and factors emanating from climate change do not portend a lessening of wildfire events and as development continues and is planned in and near wild-land areas, the problem likely will worsen--all the more reason (though certainly not the only) for the City of Brea to deny the Madrona housing project, should that matter come before the city council on appeal of the Planning Commission's narrow 3-2 approval of Madrona's predecessor, Canyon Crest.

As firefighting agencies put it these days, "fire season is all year long," instead of during the fall when Santa Ana winds blow or when hot late spring or summer weather dries out growth from the previous winter's rains.  Consequently, organizations like the local Carbon Canyon Fire Safe Council are working year round to do what they can to mitigate fire risks.

In September, then, the Council will be holding two major events dealing with fire suppression and awareness efforts, as shown on the flyer above.

On Saturday, 14 September from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Council hosts its annual "Wildfire Awareness Fair" at Western Hills Park, located at the corner of Carbon Canyon Road and Canon Lane.  The free fair includes fire protection product demos, information on landscaping appropriate to our region, exhibits and information provided by local agencies, vendors and associations; prize drawings; and more.

Two weeks after that, on Saturday, 28 September from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., the Council conducts the last of two "Brush Clearance Drop Off" days, in which residents of the Chino Hills portion of Carbon Canyon can bring brush removed from their property and, assisted by Council volunteers, unload them into roll-off bins provided by the City of Chino Hills through Chino Hills Disposal.

For more information on these upcoming events and on the Carbon Canyon Fire Safe Council, visit at www.CarbonCanyonFSC.com or call (909) 902-5280, x. 409.

Ominous Fire Season Forecast

Two of Carbon Canyon's most active stewards have routed the following link to a report that predicts that this year's fire season could be the worst on record.  Already, there have been several major blazes in southern California, including a very large fire in Ventura County near Camarillo and another major conflagration near Elizabeth Lake in northern Los Angeles County.

Needless to say, local fire authorities, other officials and many residents have tried to do their best to prepare fire-prone areas.  The small amount of rainfall during the winter, only some five inches, which is among the lowest since official tallies were started in 1877, and the fact that a small burst of rain in late January actually exacerbated the problems because of the timing of new growth and extreme dryness that followed, are telling for this year.

Those of us who live in Carbon Canyon, as well as those who travel through it, need to be extra careful and mindful of the conditions that will continue to develop over the course of the summer and, especially, the fall when dry conditions and Santa Ana winds tend to be at their worst.

Click here for the link to the report (note the comment by a Carbon Canyon resident).

Carbon Canyon Brush & Weed Clearance Deadline Today

A card was received yesterday from the Chino Valley Fire District reminding residents in Carbon Canyon about brush and weed removal.  Today was the official deadline for getting rid of the flammable material that makes this area particularly susceptible to wildfires.

In particular, the card reminds residents that there are two zones to create defensible space with a total of 100 feet around the house to clear.

The first is a 30-foot perimeter around the residence is where dead or dying leaves, grasses and brush should be cleared from the ground, needles and leaves cleaned off of roofs and out of rain gutters and tree limbs cut back from at least six feet above ground and ten feet from chimneys.  In addition, vegetation should be pruned and taken away from near windows and it is recommended to have fire-resistant plants in landscaping around houses.

Then, there is an additional 70 feet in which leaves, twigs and branches should be removed and tree canopies maintained so that branches are at least ten feet away from other trees as well as any structures.

Finally, and this is key in hot and dry conditions, such as those experienced late last week and which likely will be the norm for much of the summer and fall, mowing, trimming and other use of power equipment should take place prior to 10 a.m. and after 6 p.m. on hotter days.  Dry vegetation, like weeds and grasses, should not be removed by a mower, but with a trimmer.  Finally, the district recommends having a cell phone handy to call 9-1-1 in case of a fire and implores residents not to put themselves in harm's way when putting out a fire.

It is worth restating, incidentally, that this was one of the driest winters since official records were begun in the late 1870s.  The Los Angeles Times had an article just yesterday (read it here) pointing out that the lack of rainfall for most of January not only created early conditions for dried-out vegetation, but that a small burst of precipitation at the end of the month did not actually relieve the situation, but made it worse by allowing for new growth that would not have arisen if there had been more rain and which then dried out quickly in succeeding weeks, creating more hazardous conditions.  The massive fire in Ventura County was evidence of what can happen in these situations.

Fire preparedness has improved by a high order of magnitude in recent years compared to what it was in such conflagrations as 1990, 1978, 1958, 1929 and other major wildfire years, but conditions are also changing, as witnessed with the massive Freeway Complex Fire, which is already nearly five years old now.  Vigilance by everyone with a stake in Carbon Canyon from fire fighters, elected officials and residents continues to be crucial in minimizing the risks and hazards associated with wildland fires.

Carbon Canyon and the All-Year Fire Season

The onset of Santa Ana winds and hot, dry weather at this time of year might be termed "abnormal," but the idea of "normal" in the context of climate change doesn't seem to have much relevancy anymore.

Wildfires erupting throughout southern California (while, meantime, there has been heavy snowfall in the Midwest, which is not "normal" for the season), especially the massive blaze in the Camarillo area, are a reminder that a paltry 5 inches of rain this winter, the fourth-lowest regionally since official records were started in 1877, portend another difficult year.

There are some showers forecast for as early as Sunday and through Tuesday, but it looks like these are "chances" of precipitation and likely the last chance for many months.

As for Carbon Canyon, 15 May is the usual deadline for the removal of brush and the extremely dry winter is all the more reason to be mindful of meeting that requirement and continuing to be vigilant about fire threats.  There used to be references to the fire seasons of spring and fall, but the reality now is that fire season is all-year.

This includes motorcycle and ATV riders taking to the hills, as was noticed out the window behind this computer a few days ago, as ATV users climbed the north side of Sleepy Hollow for some fun at the top of the hills there.  Of course, it only takes a spark from one of these to hit some dry brush and then an inferno could develop from there.

A Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant project to clear brush in perimeter areas within Carbon Canyon has been conducted these past months to help mitigate the hazards, but there are still plenty of areas within and near the Canyon that are subject to wildfires.

So, let's hope that a repeat of 2008 is kept away for another year, but that means that everyone from fire agencies to commuters to local residents have to be extra aware and careful of the risks that develop when extreme conditions arise, and which might, actually, be the "new normal."

Carbon Canyon Fire History: The Conflagration of 1990

It was late June 1990 when a transient started a fire that raged throughout Carbon Canyon and scorched over 6,600 acres and destroyed fourteen houses, all of these in the community of Sleepy Hollow.

To the west in Brea, the flames came very near to destroying the La Vida Mineral Springs Cafe, which, notably, was said to have been "built on the site of a 19th-Century stagecoach stop," a claim that has no basis.   The owner of the restaurant, Don Himes, who noted the structure was 64 years old, placing its construction in 1926, which squares with some of the sources noted in this blog, was also grateful for a Los Angeles County Fire Department five-engine crew that preserved the cafe from the inferno.  Significantly, this crew worked from the cafe roof and Carbon [Canyon] Creek, which ran directly behind it and had to deal with "bamboo" that caught fire.  This is the notorious arundo donax, which has been under an intensive eradication program along the creek since the November 2008 blaze.

There were also concerns that the fire could consume portions of Olinda Village, though the community was spared major damage.  At any rate, a Los Angeles Times article on the 29th went into great detail concerning the fire's effects and quoted many canyon residents.

Moreover, hundreds of firefighters manned the lines on the fire and at least eight sustained minor injuries.  Other damage included the destruction of some four miles of phone lines, affecting service to nearly 1,000 customers, while Southern California Edison lost a few power poles and cell tower (how many of us had those massive things in '90?) and Southern California Gas shut down service in the area until the blaze was over.

A large number of the more than 200 residents of Sleepy Hollow had evacuated the scene and 30-plus year resident Don Briney, who still lives in the neighborhood, pronounced the fire "the worst one we've ever seen," eclipsing even the 1958 fire, which occurred when he was a fairly new resident.  Briney was able to save his home by using his garden house and wetting the structure overnight, but he and his wife expressed concern that fire crews were no adequate in their part of the fire zone.  An Orange County fire captain, Dan Young, countered that crews were there, but were focused on houses where brush clearance had taken place according to the department's recommendations, because these residences had "the most likelihood of being saved.  Indeed, with the thick growth of trees and brush, it was remarked that there was great surprise that there wasn't more damage.

The most notable loss in the fire was what has been called "the Doctor's house," a sprawling 8,000 square foot house that sat on top of the hill above Hillside Drive on the northern portion of Sleepy Hollow, where the lion's share of the damage in the fire occurred.  Another two-story residence was consumed completely, leaving 48 cinder block columns, a chimney, several blackened cars and an indoor pool with water blackened by burned wood from the house.

One reisident, Robin Overholser described the fire as "a tidal wave of flame, while Yvette Magliozzi, commented that "the smoke was so bad you couldn't sleep."  Overcome with emotion, Linda Wolverton exclaimed that she gave a firefighter "a big old hug" and credited crews with saving the community.

Still, a state forestry department captain, Bruce Brown, noted that the area, with its proximity of houses to open space with the density of plant material prone to extreme dryness, was "designed for disaster" and commented that "it could have been a bad, bad situation."

In the over 20 years since, more houses have been added to the Canyon and more will undoubtedly be built (with the Madrona/Canyon Crest project back in play again on the Brea side).  Even with improvements in prevention, firefighting tactics and communication, and other factors, the risk of catastrophic fire will not go away, especially if some predictions of the effects of climate change hold true. 

Carbon Canyon Fire History: The 1978 Sleepy Hollow Firestorm

A decent downpour over the weekend came at the fourth anniversary of the 2008 Freeway Complex fire and it might well be that this year will pass without a major blaze, though who can tell.

In the long history of major conflagrations in Carbon Canyon, the next significant event after the 1929 and 1958 fires was one that broke out almost to the day of the latter one.  On 23 October 1978, a wildfire erupted that brought back memories of two decades before.  In fact, the Los Angeles Times article that appeared to discuss the new event was titled "Carbon Canyon Village Spared With Wind's Aid" and began with this statement:

Twenty years ago, almost to the day, a wild fire burned 32 houses and cabins in the quiet little Carbon Canyon community called Sleepy Hollow.  Monday, for several nervous hours, history threatened to repeat itself.

A total of 3,000 acres was consumed by the flames and threatened to road down the steep ridges flanking the neighborhood, but as reporter Evan Maxwell noted, "this time, the Santa Ana winds may have been on the side of man, according to fire officials.  Those winds carried a plume of smoke over Orange County, but Sleepy Hollow was spared."

From all appearances, the fire was racing without pause towards the community, which was said to contained about 100 buildings, but heavy winds caused them to react so that "the main body of the fire was blown past the community . . . before flames stated backing down the hillsides to the homes."  With the unexpected occurrence, the article continued, "this may have prevented a maor disaster in the area . . . the flames were relatively subdued when they moved close to the homes, many in brush-choked canyons and beneath dry oak trees."

The situation changed so dramatically that some residents left fearing for the worst, so that "they left the windows and doors open in their houses.  Firemen had to enter dozens of homes to close them up."  Others stayed put and sprayed water on their roofs while firefighting aircraft dropped flame retardant material on the fire.  In all, there were some 350 fire personnel battling the blaze, which had been fueled by 40-mph winds before the intensity of the Santa Anas died down by dark, allowing crews to establish fire lines and institute back-firing along the perimeter of the blaze.

In addition to those who evacuated from Sleepy Hollow, there were about 200 cattle who were taken from a ranch in Telegraph Canyon--this being four years before the creation of Chino Hills State Park, so this was presumably the Rolling M Ranch--and some thirty horses from the El Rodeo Stables on the Brea side of the Canyon.  Olinda Village, including today's Hollydale Mobile Home Estates, which was then called the Wayside Trailer Park, was bracing for evacuations, but no mandatory order was given.

The conflagration moved south from Sleepy Hollow hearing across the open ranch land which became Chino Hills State Park and headed towards Yorba Linda, where some residents worried about what might happen, but the diedown with the winds eased concerns.  For all of the potential danger, not a single structure nor one casualty resulted from the fire.

Matters would not be so providential, however, in the next big Carbon Canyon fire, which will be covered soon.

Carbon Canyon Fire History: The Sleepy Hollow Blaze of 1958

Tonight, a light rain is falling and it would be nice to think that enough moisture will fall to hold off another dangerous brush fire in Carbon Canyon this Fall.  We shall see.

Following the last post about the near-disastrous Olinda fire of 1929 is one that was, by any standard, not near, but fully disastrous.  This was a conflagration that swept through Sleepy Hollow on the San Bernardino side of the Canyon in mid-October 1958.

As headlined in the Los Angeles Times:  "Carbon Canyon Blaze Checked; 32 Homes Lost."  And the subhead: "Fire Burns Over 260 Acres Before Being Controlled; Patrols in Area to Continue."
On a Friday morning, the fire erupted somewhere under conditions not evidently known.  While 260 acres seems quite small, compared to the many thousands that have been consumed in other incidents, this fire happened to roar through "the fringes of Sleepy Hollow" and destroyed those nearly three-dozen "homes and small cabins" noted in the headline.

Notably, the biggest damage was on the northeastern section of that community and then further out, including "at least 15 of 32 small cabins on the grounds of Workman's Circle [sic], a rest camp."  What this refers to, actually, is Camp Kinder Ring, the children's camp of the Workmen's Circle, a Jewish community association based in Los Angeles, which bought the land and built the camp in 1928 and afterward. 

Ironically, the article went on to report, "the camp was sold recently to a Los Angeles group for a reported $250,000."  This camp, located at the northeast corner of Carbon Canyon Road and Canyon Hills Road, is a horse and cattle ranch facility and some of the original surviving structures from the Jewish youth camp days are still on site.

The fire also caused injuries to several fire personnel who responded, including "four firemen hospitalized for heat exhaustion and excessive smoke" and a bulldozer operator, Ray Smith, "who was overcome by the heat and smoke" and remained longer in hospitalization than the others.

There was more to Smith's story, however, as revealed by San Bernardino County's State Forest Ranger, W. W. Skinner.  It turned out Smith "had suffered minor burns battling a fire in Santa Ana Canyon Thursday and collapsed during the height of the Carbon Canyon fire Friday."  Talk about dedication to duty and heroism among firefighters!

After a couple of days, the fire was finally contained and then extinguished, with a hundred or more firefighters from the State Division of Foresty and the Chino Fire Protection District, forerunner to the Chino Valley Independent Fire District, at work with patrol work continuing beyond that to check for flare-ups.

Future posts will cover later major conflagrations in Carbon Canyon.

Carbon Canyon Fire History: The 1929 Olinda Blaze

With hot, dry, windy Santa Ana conditions making their usual Fall appearance and the fire threat elevated in our region and, keeping in mind the interesting work done by the local group Hills for Everyone in documenting in map form the fire history of Carbon Canyon, here is the first in a series of posts mining the Los Angeles Times for articles on major fire events in the Canyon.

The earliest found is from 14 November 1929 and Santa Ana conditions were blamed for brush fires in several San Diego County locations with specific mentioned also made about "Shifting Winds Saved Olinda from Flames."

This short article noted that "Five hundred residents of Olinda today were thankful for the vagaries of a shifting wind which late yesterday stopped a sweeping fire that for several hours had threatened the community with destuction."

Showing just how primitive firefighting was eighty plus years ago, the piece went on to note that "More than 1200 men hastily recruited from the oil fields and surrounding communities had found it impossible to stop the blaze."

The conflagration started, it was reported, "on the Ed Gaines ranch in Carbon Canyon," this being the location of Olinda Village today, and it was noted that this was "a slight distance from La Vida Hot [actually, Mineral] Springs, a resort community."  The fire than roared westward for 4 1/2 miles "and was at the back yard of Olinda, when late in the evening the wind swung squarely about, halting its progress."

The blaze was said to have consumed some 5,000 acres "of watershed," which seems to indicate that it burned along the Carbon [Canyon] Creek and, perhaps the Soquel Canyon Creek, area on its way over towards Olinda.  Eight oil derricks, a small house and a powerhouse were destroyed on the leases of General Petroleum (three derricks and the powerhouse), Shell Oil (two derricks), Fullerton Oil (two derricks), and Chanslor-Canfield-Midway, also called CCMO (one derrick.)

In addition, before the wind shifted, "several hundred pumping wells were directly in the path of the blaze" and "also a number of large storage tanks were threatened for several hours."

It is worth noting that just about 80 years later within days of the 1929 blaze, a similar fortuitous circumstance came along in the Freeway Complex Fire.  In mid-November 2008, that conflagration, which laid waste 30,000 acres, had two major origins--just off the 91 Freeway and then heading north through Chino Hills State Park--and an oil field at Olinda near the Olinda-Alpha Landfill.

Sleepy Hollow residents, evacuated for three long nights as the firestorm threatened the community, returned to experience little damage, although a few homes (notably the Manely Friends stable in the Brea side just east of the old La Vida property) were burned to the west.

It was related that a firefighter from the Highland area near San Bernardino told a Sleepy Hollow denizen that he and his crewmates were on the line facing massive walls of flame and were preparing to spray retardant foam on houses and the retreat from the line because there was no way for them to stop the conflagration.

And, then:  the wind shifted.  It moved in a direction away from the houses and the community and headed elsewhere to the east.  Strange how history repeats itself.

Of course, firefighting planning, logistics, equipment and personnel are all far superior now to what they were even two decades ago, much less eight, but the threat of devastating fire is still there and, if the wind shifts the wrong way, all of the preparation and apparatuses in place may not be enough to stop the destruction of fire.

Folks in 1929 were lucky and quite a few in 2008 were, too.

Carbon Canyon Brush Clearance Due by Tuesday the 15th

The deadline for clearing brush on the Chino Hills side of Carbon Canyon, established by the Chino Valley Fire District, is this Tuesday the 15th.  After that date, inspectors from the district will be going through the Canyon and determining which properties have not yet been cleared.

Those areas that are not adequately cleared will be cited, crews brought in by contract with the district, and property owners subject to paying these costs and potential additional fines.

The reason for the mandate is to remove as much flammable material as possible within the Canyon as we head into the warmer Summer season when drier conditions mean that the likelihood for wildfires are much greater.

Meantime, the brush drop-off program, coordinated by the Carbon Canyon Fire Safe Council with assistance from the City of Chino Hills and roll-off bins provided by Chino Hills Disposal, was conducted earlier today.  A couple dozen or so drop-offs by about ten different persons led to filling several tons worth of plant material in two large bins.  Fire Safe Council members assisted residents in offloading the material from their vehicles into the bins.

This Wednesday, the Fire Safe Council will be recognized for its volunteer efforts to promote fire awareness and prevention at a meeting held at Western Hills Country Club, during which time council members will receive certificates of appreciation for their donated time over the course of the last year. 

Congratulations to those persons who take time out of their busy lives to work for the promotion of fire issues in Carbon Canyon!