Real Estate Tips: The New La Jolla Fire Safe Council
/Since the Los Angeles County fires that occurred this past January, the one benefit of their catastrophe, is it’s forced our area here in San Diego to examine our policies to ensure we are prepared. Recently, La Jolla has created a Fire Safe Council to do just that. Read on below for more details, thanks to the San Diego Tribune.
The establishment of a La Jolla Fire Safe Council to boost local fire preparedness and prevention efforts appears imminent after about 25 community members poured into a room at the Congregation Adat Yeshurun synagogue last week to discuss the possibility.
The Fire Safe Council’s logo, name and board are secured, and all that remain are agreeing on a map of boundaries and filling out paperwork to register the group with the Fire Safe Council of San Diego County.
La Jolla Town Council President Mary Soriano, a leader in the effort to form the fire council, said a public meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 9, at the La Jolla Recreation Center, 615 Prospect St., to determine the boundary map and finalize other details.
La Jolla’s group is expected to encompass most or all of the 92037 ZIP code, with the potential of forming smaller subcommittees in the future.
The paperwork is expected to be submitted by May 1, which would officially establish the La Jolla organization.
Fire Safe Councils, commonly referred to as the fire prevention version of crimefighting Neighborhood Watch groups, are grassroots nonprofits that partner with local fire agencies to provide educational forums on how to best prepare for and prevent wildfires. The groups can secure grant funding to accelerate prevention efforts such as ignition zone assessments and installing fire-resistant vents.
La Jollans have expressed concerns about fire prevention initiatives, evacuation routes and neighbor-to-neighbor communication since the Jan. 23 “Gilman fire” in La Jolla burned three acres of brush and caused many residents to be evacuated.
Details about forming a Fire Safe Council were discussed at a safety event Feb. 6 in Carmel Valley and at the Feb. 13 La Jolla Town Council meeting.
During a March 5 town hall meeting in La Jolla, San Diego City Council President Joe LaCava — a La Jolla resident whose District 1 includes the area — applauded the idea of forming a local Fire Safe Council to increase safety awareness and preparedness.
Soon afterward, Soriano and area resident Devorah Shore launched the effort to form the fire council in La Jolla.
“I’m just so thrilled because we have a plan, we have a direction, we have leaders [and] we have people coming together,” Shore said. “And that’s what we want to do.”
People who attended the April 2 meeting at Congregation Adat Yeshurun were particularly interested in the possibility of pursuing grant funding to use a citrus-based fire retardant called Citrotech to reduce the risk and size of future blazes.
The approach, which is new to San Diego, has been used in Tierrasanta, the College Area and Lakeside through a $367,000 state grant that enabled the city to buy 4,000 gallons of the spray. It has yet to be used in La Jolla, and its continued use likely will depend on additional grant funding.
After the April 2 meeting, LaCava told the La Jolla Light that he is “very excited” about the fire council being formed and appreciates community members who volunteered their efforts.
“This will be an important partner for the city of San Diego in having additional eyes and ears watching this particular community,” LaCava said.
The Fire Safe Council of San Diego County was formed in 1997 as a collaboration between the Resource Conservation District of Greater San Diego County and fire agencies on local, state and federal levels.
More than 40 communities across San Diego County have a Fire Safe Council, including La Jolla neighbor University City. Some, including Carmel Valley, Del Mar Mesa and Torrey Hills, took steps to form groups recently in the wake of the Gilman fire.
San Diego has more fire councils than any other county in the California Fire Safe Council, a nonprofit that assists a statewide network of more than 300 local Fire Safe Councils with wildfire preparedness through programs, grant funding and technical assistance.
Some fire councils encompass an entire community, such as Julian or Ramona. Others are neighborhood-level groups such as in Kensington and Alvarado Estates.
Source: San Diego Tribune
