Meeting with County Fire Officials Fails to
Resolve Concerns of Residents Who Lost Homes in Corral Fire
• Response and Resources Are Issues
Addressing a sizable gathering at an
Operation Recovery meeting in Malibu last
Thursday, Los Angeles County Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman
said his primary reason for attending was to listen.
He had plenty of opportunity to do just
that, as disgruntled victims of November’s Corral Fire
voiced their criticism and concerns.
A PowerPoint presentation on the fire was
followed by a barrage of public comment.
Concerns were raised about the Corral
Canyon bridge, emergency response time, conflicting
accounts of which fire companies arrived first and whether
fire hydrants were utilized, and a perceived lack of
firefighters in fire-threatened neighborhoods despite the
number of engines that responded.
“Why couldn’t the fire
department help us?” asked a woman who said her house on
Barrymore Drive burned four hours after the fire started, and
that no fire or police personnel ever arrived.“I would
have to look at the address location and talk to the
personnel there,” Freeman responded.
“There were no personnel
there,” seemingly exasperated audience members
shouted in reply. Someone then said, “There seems to be a
pattern there, Freeman.”
“Putting your home back for your
family is so important.” The woman continued,
addressing the issue of whether she will rebuild.
“But if you think, for God’s sake, [the
firefighters] won’t be there again, then you’re
being frivolous, you’re not being responsible parents.
How do we look to the future and know that we’re going to
make a good choice?”
“There are a number of
factors,” Freeman replied. “Focusing on the fire
department and response or a lack of response.
[You’ve] got to also look at the location of the home,
location of the fuel, topography, wind, all those other
factors, and they all play a part in that.”
Freeman was interrupted by another
Barrymore Drive fire victim who said, “Somebody made the
decision, somebody told them that they were not going to
Barrymore Drive,” the man said. “Because there were
no police, no fire, none until the whole thing was over and all
the damage was done. That was sinful.”
Appearing uncomfortable, the county fire
chief replied, “We can certainly look into that, and see
exactly what was going on at the time—what instructions
and directions were given.”
When the questioning turned to fuel
modification requirements for those who are beginning the
rebuilding process, Freeman explained that flying brands
were part of the problem. A home could have the recommended
brush clearance and still be destroyed by windborne brands
from as much as half a mile away.
Charlotte Ward, also of Barrymore
Drive, asked about the possibility of a fire
department-sponsored alarm system. Freeman replied that
this was a very important issue and that both the City of
Malibu and Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky,
who represents Malibu, were interested in it. “It’s
a huge logistical challenge to try to warn everyone and get
them to evacuate,” he said.
Another major issue involved air support.
One man wanted to know “why isn’t there a
helicopter that can come in at 3:30 a.m.” and put
out a fire. During the PowerPoint presentation it was
noted that a reconnaissance helicopter had been deployed
shortly after the fire was reported to “pinpoint”
the fire’s starting place.
The audience wanted to know why
firefighting helicopters could not have been used. “[The
fire department] does fly in darkness,” Freeman said. We
fight fire in darkness...that fire in the bowl created a
safety hazard for the pilots.”
“Kids are still going up there [to
the cave] and having fires,” one man complained,
bitterly.
“That’s right,” Freeman
replied. “That is just beyond
comprehension... Why isn’t there a gate put on
the road?” His statement was met with applause.
There were also complaints about the road
work on the canyon bridge, that narrowed the road to one
lane, and the fact that the emergency easement through the
neighboring RV park was not open.
“My house burned down. Burned before
fire people arrived. Not one fire truck. [They were] just on
PCH. At that time road was very narrow and it curved. I
don’t know how a fire truck could get through
there,” one woman complained.
“Your community is begging you to
believe them that there was a breakdown of communication. All
of them are begging you to believe them, because they were
there.” There’s other information that has to be
blended with your eyewitness account,” Freeman replied.
“We understand that... you’ve
saved our homes so many times,” was the reply.
“We’re so grateful, but we’re saying this
time, it could have been preventable.”
“I’ve got the biggest ears that
God’s ever given, Freeman said. “We are listening.
We’re going to take that information and invite 10
members of your homeowners to come, sit down, look at our
records [and] our reports, piece it together
so...we’ll have a picture that takes your eyewitness
accounts and other information blended together and from that
we can move forward.”
But one of the meeting’s
organizers implied he did not appear to be listening hard
enough. Beverly Taki addressed Freeman response with,
“At this point, I feel like a lot of heart, a lot of loss
of homes. We aren’t getting any brokerage of peace. We
are not getting an apology. We planned tonight to establish a
Fire Safe Corral Council. We can’t have a council unless
we can agree on some facts. And I’m not hearing any
agreement on facts tonight. We need to settle some facts. This
is not,” she said, “a help to solution
making.”
Freeman was listening attentively, but his
answers were not what some in the audience would have preferred
them to be, leaving Corral residents and fire department
representatives not much closer to resolution of
burnouts’ concerns at the end of the meeting than they
were at its start.
