Since La Jolla’s inaugural Fire Safe Council was born in May, leaders of the group have been working to prevent future wildfires in local neighborhoods.
The most recent effort took place last week as the Fire Safe Council teamed with the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department to provide home risk assessments for residents.
The assessments, first offered by the city of San Diego in July, inform homeowners about creating defensible space and how to make their homes more resistant against wildfires.
While they typically cost $163, Fire-Rescue allowed for five free assessments for La Jolla residents Aug. 26-28.
Assistant Fire Marshal Alex Kane, who helped facilitate and oversee the assessments, said they were offered for free both to recognize the Fire Safe Council’s efforts and to provide a training opportunity for risk assessors.
San Diego Assistant Fire Marshal Alex Kane says home risk assessments were developed to help homeowners understand changing wildfire risks and to make homes more fire-resistant. (Fire Safe Council of San Diego County)
Homes in communities from Coromandel Park to La Jolla Farms were inspected over the three-day span, with residents opening their homes to neighbors who were curious about home risk mitigation.
One of those residents was Leslie Fastlicht, a Fire Safe Council member and president of the Windemere Homeowners Association. She estimated that 10 neighbors joined in to hear from Fire-Rescue.
“I thought … they would use this as a good resource,” Fastlicht said. “The best way to address this is to have the houses as ready as can be, and I think that as community leaders, that’s what we have to convey to our communities.”
Devorah Shore, who helped organize the Fire Safe Council’s first meeting earlier this year along with La Jolla Town Council President Mary Soriano, also opened her home for the risk assessment.
“We wanted to know what to do,” Shore said. “We need a direction. And we were willing to pay for the fire people to come out … to get us started. So we were very grateful when they offered to do it complimentarily.”
She also praised Soriano for her efforts in bringing the group together. Soriano is listed as a board member along with John Pierce, Eva Ellyes and Chairwoman Li Zhang.
“Mary has been the key person to bring people together,” Shore said. “It really gives us a sense of community being heard and seen, cared about and given somewhat of a direction to get started.”
Fire Safe Councils, commonly referred to as the fire prevention version of crimefighting Neighborhood Watch groups, are grassroots nonprofits that partner with fire agencies to provide local education on how to best prepare for and prevent wildfires.
La Jollans have sounded the alarm on issues such as fire prevention, evacuation routes and neighbor-to-neighbor communication since the Jan. 23 “Gilman fire” burned three acres of brush and caused many residents to be evacuated.
“The thing that’s different with the La Jolla residents and the Fire Safe Council is that they’re very engaged,” Kane said. “We’ve done other assessments of people’s homes when they’re kind of … ‘Give me the report.’ But everybody was asking good questions.
“I’m optimistic they’re going to be able to take this information, go out into the community and help neighbors.”
The La Jolla Fire Safe Council’s formation accelerated from an initial meeting in April to its approval in May by the Fire Safe Council of San Diego County’s executive board, pending final approval of paperwork.
With the paperwork approved, Heather Cady, director of forestry and fire prevention programs for the Resource Conservation District of Greater San Diego County and the countywide Fire Safe Council, told the La Jolla Light that updated records indicate the San Diego area has 47 active councils.
Several Fire Safe Councils have formed in the San Diego area in the wake of an outbreak of fires in Southern California in January. (Fire Safe Council of San Diego County)
Kane said he hopes the La Jolla group will be able at some point to communicate with all the others in the region.
“If we can get all of these Fire Safe Councils to communicate and we can have one message and get everyone in the city aligned, I believe we can make San Diego more fire-adapted,” Kane said.
Each group holds meetings periodically and potentially can secure grant funding to accelerate prevention efforts such as ignition-zone assessments and installing fire-resistant vents.
The La Jolla Fire Safe Council’s most recent meeting took place via Zoom last month as Kane provided background information on the home risk assessments.
Community members are joined by representatives of the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department at an April 2 fire safety workshop in La Jolla in which those in attendance worked toward forming the La Jolla Fire Safe Council. (Noah Lyons)
“It’s not consistent every month — it’s more [focused] on being efficient,” Soriano said. “We’re not trying to meet just to meet. We’re trying to be efficient with our meetings and actually get things done.”
Soriano said the group plans to offer a presentation on evacuation routes.
An email address for the Fire Safe Council is being set up. In the meantime, Soriano said, residents can email questions to info@lajollatowncouncil.org. ♦