Charles Koeleman probably helped save his canyon-top Alvarado Estates neighborhood from burning down during the Fairmount fire on Halloween last year.
The entire north-facing canyonside he can see from his back porch across Montezuma Road is completely torched. The day of the fire, Koeleman spotted flames licking up his side of the canyon near a neighbors’ home and rushed to douse it with a hose.
“All of a sudden I saw a little trail of smoke,” Koeleman said. “My son took over the hose and went down the canyon and I turned on all my sprinklers.”
The canyon below Alvarado Estates escaped flame, this time.
Koeleman set up a sprinkler system on his roof, hires help to cut down canyon brush to his property line, and keeps multiple garden hoses and fire extinguishers within reach to battle flames. By all accounts, Koeleman was doing everything right – and the local Alvarado Estates Fire Council, a citizens group set up to address fire risk in the neighborhood, used his home as a model for others.
But last week, Assistant Fire Marshal Alex Kane gave Koeleman a sobering look at all the ways his home was still vulnerable. Kane’s visit was part of a new program by the city of San Diego’s Fire-Rescue called the – deep breath – home ignition zone defensible space inspection. San Diegans will be able to sign up for one around July 1 on the fire department’s website. It’s just an assessment. The fire department doesn’t issue citations or do anything punitive. It’s all an effort to bolster the community’s knowledge about what they can do to protect theirs and others’ property.
Some highlights that surprised me, a person with limited experience living in wildfire country.
Zero to five feet: While not legally required, yet, fire departments are beginning to regularly advise homeowners that the best thing you can do to prevent homes catching fire is keep a five foot perimeter from your home’s exterior completely fire proofed. That means: No green landscaping, no mulch, no vines or trees or vegetation – however artfully designed – should be growing within that five-foot perimeter. Switch your mulch to crushed granite. Rip out those decorative Italian cypress, or at the very least, space them out and away from that five-foot perimeter.
Door mats: When the fire department issues a red flag warning – meaning conditions are ripe for wildfires to spark and spread aka high heat, low humidity and high winds – bring your door mat inside.
“When the wind’s blowing embers will come and eddy around a doormat and can start a fire underneath your door,” Kane said.
He put it this way – any spot around the home where leaves accumulate during a breeze is also a spot prone to collecting flying embers during a fire.
Wood fences: A wooden fence within five feet of the home is considered a pathway for fire to travel down. Vinyl is better as it’s more prone to melt versus smolder and fuel fire like wood, but the best is steel for fencing the last five feet near the home.
Cars and trash cans: During red flag warnings, move cars 10 feet away from the home. People who have RVs outside the home often render their homes indefensible because they’re so prone to catching fire, Kane said. Trash cans are also sitting ducks full of combustible fuel people typically roll close to their homes when not in use. So better to roll them to the end of a driveway or to the street.
Sheds and accessible dwelling units: Kane said these should sit 30 feet from the home if possible to keep flame from spreading to the main house.
Grass or artificial turf: You may notice a pattern beginning to form here, but while lawn and artificial turf weren’t high on Kane’s list of concerns, if it’s within five feet of the home it could become an issue.
Outdoor cushions: Statistically cushions within five feet of the home could be another fuel source for embers to land and start a fire.
Environment Report Hibernates Until June
I’m having a baby, so the Environment Report will be paused until June when I reemerge from the fog of raising a newborn. Wish me luck.
Around the Empire
- In other fire-related news, the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department says it’s the first in the nation to try a new citrus-based fire prevention retardant called Citrotech. The department’s focusing on egress or escape routes and encampments, which tend to attract people again even after the city clears them out. (Union-Tribune)
- San Diego County’s supervisors plans to spend $15 million on a new helicopter equipped to fly at night flying capabilities to help boost wildfire preparedness. Except, another helicopter they bought in 2023 with the same capabilities has apparently been out of commission for eight months for maintenance. I plan to spend some time trying to get a ride along on a helicopter night flight because it sounds cool. (CBS 8)
- An Imperial County judge cleared the way for one of the world’s largest lithium mines to move forward just south of the Salton Sea. Nonprofit community organizations sued over the project’s environmental review claiming not enough had been studied on the project’s potential effects on water supply and air quality. Those groups could appeal the decision to a higher court. (Calmatters)
- The Carlsbad Unified School District passed a clean air and energy resolution committing to become a fossil fuel-free district by 2035. (Climate Action Campaign)
- A team at Scripps Institution of Oceanography produced its first fertilized eggs of an endangered native sunflower sea star after a mysterious wasting disease almost wiped out the population. While it looks a little too much like the facehugger in Alien, we’re glad science can step in and regrow dying species which help keep sea urchin populations at bay and
- Portions of one of San Diego’s first huge aqueducts, built in the 1940s to get Colorado River to the region, is undergoing some rehab. It’ll be shut down Feb. 25 to March 5 potentially impacting parts of the cities of Poway, San Diego, and the Helix and Ramona water districts. (Fox 5)
- And my colleagues in the San Diego enviro space explore what might happen to offshore wind projects and lithium mining following various executive orders and financial reviews from President Donald Trump. (inewsource and Union-Tribune)
These recommendations should also include modifying attic vents so they don’t allow embers into the attic, which will set the house on fire from inside. Attic vents can be screened or designed to close during wildfire.
Do you mean “Accessory Dwelling Unit”?
when will VoSD be posting the next Environment Report?