Fire hazards also a money battle

Paul Clinton

A hot, dry summer has turned the scrub brush in Buck Gully and

three other canyons in the city into a fire hazard, city officials

say.

It could cost homeowners as much as $10,000 to safeguard the area.

“Buck Gully and the other natural areas around the city are of

concern,” said Donna Boston, a spokeswoman for the Newport Beach Fire

Department. “Fuel, what we call brush, is at a higher growth and it’s

extremely dry.”

City leaders say homeowners and homeowners’ associations should

crack down on the problem. But Newport Coast leaders say the city

agreed to the job in a “pre-annexation” agreement.

With moisture and rainfall noticeably absent since fire season

began in April -- save a few sprinkles here and there -- firefighters

say this season has been one of the most dangerous in a decade.

To combat the dry, overgrown brush in the areas, city officials

launched a comprehensive round of inspections in April and May and

began sending notices to property owners that are not in compliance

with city fire codes.

Fire leaders hired David Evans and Associates, based in Laguna

Niguel, to inspect 121 properties; nine didn’t jibe with city fire

codes. The group will provide the city its final report within the

next several weeks, officials said.

Letters went out asking the homeowners to reduce brush around

their homes within 30 days. A second letter gave the holdouts another

15 days.

For homeowners who fail to comply with the letters, the city will

hire removal crews to clear the brush and bill homeowners for the

job, which can cost anywhere from $300 to $10,000, Fire Prevention

Specialist Daryl Mackey said.

In an effort to make the coast safer in the event of a flare-up,

city fire inspectors have also been pushing homeowners associations

to comply with laws governing the amount of brush that can be present

near homes.

The laws govern the proximity of trees to buildings, require

removal of dead or dying bushes, ban wooden or shake roofs and

prohibit stacked firewood from being closer than 15 feet from a home.

The laws were put in place by the Orange County Fire Authority

after the fires in Laguna Canyon; city leaders say many of those

rules aren’t being followed by owners of the 243 properties in Buck

Gulley and Morning Canyon and 20 communities in the coast.

“In light of the drought conditions, it isn’t something we should

take lightly,” Newport Beach Fire Chief Tim Riley said. The county

“didn’t do routine inspections. They operated under a complaint-based

system.”

The steep canyon walls of Buck Gully could cause flames to reach

lengths of up to 100 feet in the worst wind conditions, making a fire

there next to impossible to fight, Riley said.

County fire officials acknowledged they didn’t perform yearly

inspections, even though twice yearly inspections are required.

“People are doing a lot of finger-pointing right now,” County Fire

Capt. Stephen Miller said. “The language [of the laws] is very clear.

The property owner is ultimately responsible.”

As a result, the crackling embers of discontent flared with

Newport Coast leaders who say the city agreed to maintain the

vegetation when it agreed to annex the gated communities that dot the

coast’s landscape.

Jim McGee, the chairman of the Newport Coast Advisory Committee,

said a Nov. 28 “pre-annexation” agreement requires the city to pay

for maintenance of the areas.

“If somebody gets a bill like that, they’re not likely to pay it,”

McGee said, about any city brush removal. “There is an annexation

agreement in place that says it’s not their responsibility.”

Riley and other city leaders disagree with McGee, saying property

owners would ultimately be asked to shoulder the costs of keeping

land surrounding their property free of dangerous, dry brush.

“No one ever contemplated that the city would go in and clean

everything up and maintain everything,” Asst. City Manager Dave Kiff

said. “Some of the homeowners’ associations misunderstood their

responsibilities prior to annexation.”

The four winding wild land areas -- Buck Gully, Morning Canyon,

Los Trancos Canyon and Muddy Canyon -- stretch from Corona del Mar to

the southern edge of Newport Coast.

* PAUL CLINTON covers the environment and maybe reached at (949)

764-4330 or e-mail at paul.clinton@latimes.com.