Study- San Diego At Risk For Future Firestorms

[turlough]

7:10 p.m. PST January 15, 2004 - San Diego County firefighting agencies were not prepared to work together during October's devastating firestorms, according to a new report.

A study by the federal Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center in Arizona warns that similar disasters are likely to hit the region in the future. The report says that local and state agencies need to "get their act together" in preparation, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

"Historic fires are the rule now, not the exception," a fire commander said in the report.

The study examined the fires that devastated San Diego and other parts of Southern California last year. The authors interviewed 107 firefighters, dispatchers and others. They concluded that agencies that had trained, planned and prepared together for major wildfires were more effective those that did not. San Diego County agencies were not prepared to work together, the report said.

"What's tragic is that people think this is never going to happen again, so they don't have to prepare," Dave Christenson, who led the survey team that produced the report, told the newspaper. "This was not a once-in-a-lifetime event. This was just a heads-up."

In all, the 13 Southern California fires -- including three in San Diego County -- burned about 750,000 acres, destroyed some 4,000 homes and killed at least 22 people. Sixteen people died in San Diego County.

Christenson said San Diego fire agencies are less prepared and coordinated with each other than those in other Southern California

[Allan]

Don't people realize that in California wildfires are a natural occurence that happpens every summer? You'd think they would be better prepared.

[turlough]

well since there are a natural thing i think they need to firght them the only time they need to stop the fire is if it gets near homes but what are them people doing living in the woods they need to live downtown so they will build more apartment builidngs.

[Allan]

what are them people doing living in the woods they need to live downtown so they will build more apartment builidngs.

LOL. Yep. I don't understand why people feel the need to live so far out. The neighborhoods out that far often aren't very liveable...total sprawl, poorly planned, no sidewalks, etc.

[tocoto]

Most of the west from the rockies to the pacific is dry and has a natural fire season. People build houses in the wooded foothills ensconced in trees as though they were in the east. Once a fire starts, the wind and all the dry wood and needles makes it very hard to stop. Better zoning and environmentally sensible logging would be a great benefit.