Los Angeles Fires Could Be Us!

By luck we got the rain this year.  Next year we could be burned out.  What can we do to AVOID this catastrophe?

Our East Bay Parks District backed us by Cal Fire, have the answer.  Fire Season after Fire Season they preach to us the necessity of clearing the fire prone undergrowth and downed trees and branches.  Yet, they fail to practice what they preach.  Our Castro Valley Community is in jeopardy – a fire ready to happen; just like Santa Rosa and now Los Angeles.

Is there a remedy? Absolutely!  Have East Bay Parks District clear the area along Ten Hills Trail down to the golf course and Lake Chabot, of what they call tinder dry undergrowth.  They talk about how this would keep any fire manageable and prevent it from setting fire to our homes, beside the forest, which as we know, can spread through the whole community.  Yes, they label it as “Fire Prevention”, but nothing happens in our area.

Instead, our East Bay Parks District tries to assure us of how valuable they are at putting fires out.  Well, sadly we saw again how futile an argument that is – Santa Ana winds, air tankers, helicopters can’t fly.  Water shortages, dry fire hydrants.  Luckily for Los Angeles all the billions of dollars of equipment in our State lined up there but Mother Nature prevailed.  I implore our Politicians to wake up.  Your constituents depend on you, to use your Political Power to insist that East Bay Parks District do what they acknowledge is vital – Preventive Work.  Prevent the forest fires from reaching our homes by keeping that fire prone underbrush in check: “Forest Fire Prevention”.

–John Sullivan, Castro Valley