Fire chiefs debate 'stay and defend'

There's a debate going on among California fire officials about whether residents whose homes are threatened in wildfires should be allowed to stay behind and defend their homes rather than evacuate because firefighters are overwhelmed. Top officials from fire agencies in seven Southern California counties started last fall to discuss moving toward an evacuation policy that makes allowances for people who want to try to save their homes.

Fire chiefs in tinder-dry Southern California, faced with lean budgets while more people squeeze into the region, are starting to rethink long-standing policies on ordering mass evacuations in a wildfire, debating whether it may be wiser in some situations to let residents stay and defend their homes. "We don't have enough resources to put an engine at every house in harm's way," said Ventura County Fire Chief Bob Roper. "We figure, if people are going to stay, maybe they can become part of the solution."

Read the full story on the "stay and defend" debate.

-- Catherine Saillant

Comments

[jill]

When the fire inspector came by last year for the annual brush clearance review in our hillside area, he told my husband that if a fire was close but not actually imminent, he could help by getting the family out of the house and then hosing down the sides and rooftop, anywhere he could reach with the hose -- so many fires spread from blowing embers that can't "take" on a wet surface. This can become a "call" when the fire's so close you can no longer evacuate, but it seems sensible to me to hose your house as long as the fire's at least a block away AND you have a clear egress route in another direction.

We read how many fires start when people don't seal their windows or garages tightly -- also smoke seeps into homes that way. What other tips should we know?

Then we hear about people who've saved their homes by spraying on fire- retardant foam, but there are so many kinds available at wide price ranges, what are the ones LAFD recommends?

We need to hear a lot MORE about what steps we can take to protect our own homes before we just leave and leave it all to chance. When we hear about someone who stayed after evacuation was recommended and saved their home and maybe a neighbor's, it seems a pity so many others didn't, because they did the "right" thing and just fled.

[Joe Scavo]

This is a non-issue as far as I'm concerned. My home in Yorba Linda was in the middle of the fires. We loaded our cars, my wife went down the hill to stay with relatives, and I stayed to help save my home.
NO ONE was going to make me leave. PERIOD. It's my property, and I'm not leaving. I'm not going to blame anybody if I get burnt to crisp, it's my CHOICE.

[Gary Smith]

I served as fire chief for the Aptos La Selva Fire Protection District in Santa Cruz County and studied the fire threat in the wildland interface very thoroughly. I helped form the first International Assoc. of Fire Chiefs committee on wildland fire control (Chief Roper took my place when I retired). I strongly support Chief Roper's effort to engage new thinking about protecting our homes from the wildland fire threat. In 2008 my role switched from overseeing fire operations to defending my property from wildland fire, on two different occassions we faced major wildland threat. The 'stay and defend policy' works for our property, we established defensible space and we would like the opportunity to stay and defend our property.