Fire Hazard Zones

Fire Hazard Zones
Letter to the Editor

Let’s place a perspective on the issue at hand [regarding proposed fire zone changes in Mission Viejo by Cal Fire, the state fire protection agency]:

  1. First and foremost, both the individual and the community have obligations to safeguard our homes and community.
  2. Government should ONLY provide information and suggested guidelines to help with this effort. But mandates without transparency, funding and our input are NOT going to work.
  3. Cal Fire will not make their models and the algorithms that drive the model available, hiding behind the excuse of “proprietary.” These models are suspect at best. One also has to wonder about an unhealthy relationship between Cal Fire and the BIA (Builders Industry Association) with the large contributions by the BIA to Councilman Frank Ury.
  4. The maps are flawed, as demonstrated by many speakers [during the hearing at he Mar. 5 Mission Viejo City Council meeting].
  5. Community input should be from the community and NOT left for city administrators to determine.
  6. As structured now, the Council should not endorse the various proposals as submitted by the Orange County Fire Authority, particularly the encapsulation of all three fire zones.
  7. The City of Mission Viejo is by far the biggest offender concerning vegetation management. Examples are many—just start by driving down Jeronimo from Marguerite Parkway to Olympiad and look at the Pampas Grass (listed as a plant to remove by the OCFA), lack of tree maintenance—liming up, and the dead non-native plants and grasses. In addition, drive down Camelote Street in Mission Viejo that has city open lands across from residential houses. This area is an abomination and a super fire hazard—owned by the City of Mission Viejo. I would add that all of the Wilderness Glenn Area comes into the same classification of city neglect. As I stated during my public comments at the Mar. 5 meeting, it is time to stop building monuments, kiosks and obelisks in our parks and start maintaining our trees and slopes.
  8. The areas east of Olympiad and Felipe are another example of city and county neglect with wide swaths of untended and non-maintained areas waiting for a fire to start. Once again, this is a city issue that should be addressed.

It is time for us to stop spending money on special interest feel-good projects like the Tennis Center, Dog Park, Electronic Signs, celebration flags, words of the month, freebie movies, and potted medians and pay attention to the safety of our community as a whole.

Joe Holtzman
Mission Viejo