By Charly SHELTON

A new study published this week in the journal Earth’s Future found that since 1972 there has been an average 500% increase in annual burned areas statewide, largely in part from an 800% increase in burned areas annually in California from forest fires. Human-caused climate change has heated the earth 1.4°C, the report said and, while that may seem inconsequential to the boots-on-the-ground human who gets just slightly sweatier for just slightly longer, this is a huge shift for the planet. The heat dries out the air, reducing the humidity level and making fires harder to extinguish, therefore prolonging them to destroy more land each summer. The 1.4°C rise also delays the onset of fall and winter, giving the fire season more days of danger. This leads to massive disasters like last November’s Camp Fire – the most destructive, costly and deadly fire California has seen in recorded history.

The Camp Fire raged across 153,336 acres, or nearly 240 square miles, in Butte County, California. The town of Paradise was hit the hardest. The fire caused at least 85 civilian casualties and injured 17 others, with two civilians still missing, and destroyed 18,804 structures. Most of the damage was caused within the first four hours of the blaze’s outbreak. These are terrifying numbers for anyone, but more so for those with restricted ingress/egress points to their homes or neighborhoods, dense population numbers, or those at the edge of the urban-wilderness interface. Any of these factors increase fire risk, and there is one area of the Crescenta Valley in particular that has all three of these factors – Briggs Terrace.

With 310 homes above Shields Street, and the only way up to those homes being the narrow, windy Shields Street itself, these residents are against the mountain and at-risk for wind-blown fires to quickly overtake them. With only Shields Street available, the choice between evacuating the 310 families down that street or bringing first responders up to combat the blaze is a one-or-the-other decision that becomes more difficult with less time. Cell service is spotty way up in the canyon and, as seen with the Camp Fire, the reverse 9-1-1 calls are subject to human and technical error.

Another possibility was raised by the Crescenta Valley Fire Safe Council to help maximize the warning time before a blaze gets too close to people and property.

“After the Camp Fire decimated Paradise and its people, Steve Pierce, at one of our monthly meetings, raised the idea of getting a siren warning system up here on the mountain above Shields,” said Brian Ray Hodge, president of the Crescenta Valley Fire Safe Council. “He, or someone, contacted [LA County] Supervisor [Kathryn] Barger and she assigned [the suggestion] to the LA County Fire and Sheriff [departments] to do a study. Basically, the upcoming [CV Fire Safe Council] meeting is going to have the county fire and sheriff departments explaining what their current protocol is for evacuation and then what they’ve concluded about a siren warning system in the area. Then hopefully there will be a lot of time for questions because I know I have a lot of questions.”

On Monday, July 29, at 6:30 p.m., the CV Fire Safe Council will hold a community meeting at Rosemont Middle School to hear from first responders on their study of whether the sirens will be a workable solution, as well as hear the general how-tos of evacuating when a blaze ignites and threatens the area. While this is geared specifically toward the residents of Briggs Terrace above Shields, all are welcome to attend.

Rosemont Middle School is located at 4725 Rosemont Ave. in La Crescenta.

Visit CVFireSafeCouncil.org for more info.

  Charly Shelton