Volunteers on Lookout for Holiday Fires

With brush-covered hillsides in the San Fernando Valley tinder dry, firefighters and neighborhood arson-watch groups in rural and canyon areas have gone on the alert for the Fourth of July weekend, watching out for revelers whose antics threaten to send the holiday up in smoke.

Fire-conscious residents will be on the lookout for lighted cigarettes and illegal fireworks. Ham-radio operators will keep their equipment at the ready. And firefighters will increase their visibility on the streets as the county gears up for a holiday that traditionally causes fire-station switchboards to light up twice as often as usual.

“Our calls will almost double--sometimes they’ll more than double,” county Assistant Fire Chief Leon Provost said. “It’s by far our busiest day of the year.”

This year, Independence Day comes during what some consider the most hazardous fire season in recent memory.

A fifth year of drought and the winter’s deep freeze have given rise to thousands of acres of dead or dying brush completely sapped of moisture and primed as kindling, said David Gottlieb, director of the Topanga-Las Virgenes Resource Conservation District. The miracle rains of March have also increased the fire hazard, sparking the growth of plants that have since withered and now act as potential fuses for fires to spread to surrounding chaparral.

“The danger is possibly the worst in 50 or 60 years,” Gottlieb said.

All of which means that neighborhood arson-watch organizations across the San Fernando Valley are on their toes for the holiday weekend.

For Allen Emerson, coordinator of a group that covers the Topanga, Agoura Hills and Malibu areas, the annual rite means beefing up volunteer teams that act as the eyes and ears of the Sheriff’s Department, reporting any activities that appear to pose a fire risk.

“Every Fourth of July, we put out extra people,” Emerson said. “We patrol areas, and we shut down certain fire roads.”

The 100-strong team will be especially vigilant in watching out for illegal fireworks, which two years ago touched off a small blaze on Saddle Peak. Dressed in “Arson Watch” T-shirts and equipped in some cases with ham radios, volunteers will scout mountain roads and spots known to be popular holiday hangouts.

“There are certain places where people like to gather. We don’t mind them gathering. What we mind is them shooting off fireworks,” Emerson said. “And it’s been compounded this year because the fuel load has increased lately.”

In Acton, a volunteer force will cruise the streets tonight armed with mobile phones as residents look nervously askance at neighboring Palmdale, the only north county city to allow so-called “safe and sane” fireworks.

This year, all Palmdale fireworks vendors have been required to post signs warning that discharging fireworks outside city limits is illegal. But many of their Acton neighbors fear the fireworks will still find a way into their community.

“Most people of Acton refuse to go out anywhere for the Fourth of July because they feel they have to be at home watching for fires,” said Charles Brink, head of planning for the Acton Town Council. “Historically, residents feel trapped in their homes, because they know people discharge fireworks illegally.”

County fire officials said fireworks in Palmdale last year caused an estimated $2,000 in damage and burned a quarter of an acre of land.

In Green Valley, with the memory of a recent blaze seared into their minds, residents also plan to keep their eyes open. Fire is “the primary problem we live in fear of,” said John Ameluxen, who has lived in Green Valley for 11 years. “Two years ago, we lost all of the hills behind us. It was completely burnt. It’s just starting to grow back now.”