San Diego is being hit hard by Santa Ana winds, and more events are just around the corner. With our vegetation bone-dry, and wildfires becoming more extreme and unpredictable, residents here have never been more vulnerable and justifiably terrified.
The vegetation fires that broke out near Fashion Valley on Jan. 21 and in Rose Canyon on Jan. 24 could have spelled disaster for the thousands of urbanites living there had they struck during the night and firefighters hadn’t been able to respond quickly enough.
The devastating wildfires that have been ravaging Los Angeles tell us one thing for certain: Wildfires are far more deadly in dense urban areas where traffic grids are limited and evacuation is more difficult. This factor was also in play in the tragic 2023 Maui wildfires.
This should be enough to caution San Diego City officials that building in Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones is foolish and irresponsible. Adding more people to these areas means more cars on the road, potentially creating traffic gridlock and making it impossible for residents to get out of harm’s way.
San Diego is known for its rolling topography of canyons, most of which are now overgrown with dry vegetation. Flammable vegetation on steep canyon slopes burns faster upward, and many older neighborhoods sit at the top of these canyons.
In 2017, the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department created the Proactive Brush Management Program, a door-to-door assessment program where officials go door-to-door to houses along canyon rims to inspect the properties and see if they are in compliance with brush regulations or not. But the department is seriously behind, and private property wildland management code violations are not being enforced.
The recent Montezuma Fire that broke out last October in the Talmadge neighborhood rapidly burned 37 acres, prompted evacuations, and caused damage to six homes. While still under investigation, it is believed to have started near one of San Diego’s many homeless encampments.
The 1985 Normal Heights fire, which destroyed 76 houses and damaged 57 more, burned over 300 acres before crews were able to get it under control. Flames raced up the canyon from Mission Valley so quickly, they overtook the neighborhood like one giant explosion.
The horrific Los Angeles wildfires have reignited fears of a larger disaster unfolding here in San Diego in the coming days, months or years.
Residents of the single-family neighborhoods in south University City feel particularly vulnerable, since they are surrounded on all sides by Rose and San Clemente canyons and unmaintained open space. University City recently went through a community plan update, which potentially would add 30,500 housing units to its existing 27,000 to accommodate another 80,000 residents within its small, 7.35-square-mile footprint.
Where is the wisdom in concentrating more high-density apartment buildings and ADUs in high fire-risk areas? Why would Mayor Todd Gloria be putting new housing before brush management at this point? More, where is the concern for the protection and safety of residents’ lives?
For Gloria and the City Council to forge ahead with their high-density housing plans while neglecting brush management and the creation of safe evacuation routes, given the heightened wildfire threat, is reprehensible.
The responsible and right things to do would be to: 1) Place a moratorium on all new development in high fire-risk areas, including ADUs, until all roadways are analyzed and safe evacuation routes can be designated and ensured; 2) put all the city’s resources on clearing brush in canyons and on slopes, and ensuring compliance by all households in high-risk fire areas; 3) rescind all of the recent community plan updates that call for concentrated density; 4) plan and design a new overall growth plan for San Diego that would spread new housing development across the city at all 62 trolley stops, rather than concentrating it all in targeted communities with high potential for wildfires; and 5) tighten building restrictions on ADUs, bonus ADUs and junior ADUs.
It’s a fairly sure bet that San Diego will experience a sizable wildfire at some point. But city officials have no right to be gambling with our lives.
Bonnie Kutch is the founding member of UC Neighbors for Responsible Growth, a.k.a. UC PEEPS, and a homeowner in University City.
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