Any student of history will tell you that there’s a recurring theme dating back hundreds, if not thousands of years: The temptations of preparing to win the last battle, instead of succeeding in the next battle.
This is a challenge California faces today, but not in a traditional war. Rather, we must prepare to battle the devastating brushfires and wildfires that can seemingly strike anywhere in our state, and attack regions in Southern California especially hard like Orange and Riverside Counties.
And when it comes to preparing for future fire hazard conditions, I fear California is very much looking backwards. Given the widespread damage caused by wildfires in California every year, the cost of inaction will be devastating.
This is especially relevant today, as we see heartbreaking images of Santa Barbara threatened by fires that rose out of nowhere, destroyed nearly 80 homes, damaged more than 20 more, caused the evacuation of approximately 30,000 people and injured several firefighters, some of them seriously.
It’s time for the state to plan wisely and plan ahead, while at the same time giving our citizens a better way to protect their homes, their property and their communities from the fires we know are coming. The unpredictable nature of these blazes is proven by the fact that we have seen more and more large and devastating fires in the past two decades.
On October 20, 1991, the Oakland Hills Fire quickly burned more than 1,500 acres, destroyed 2,900 structures and claimed the lives of 25 people. Some witnesses reported that they did not realize the size or scope of the fire until it was far too late.
On October 3, 1995, the Vision Fire in Marin County burned more than 12,000 acres and destroyed 48 structures. On October 21, 2003, more than a dozen fires burned across Southern California charring over 750,000 acres, destroying 3,710 homes and 24 people lost their lives.
By August of last year more than 1.3 million acres burned across California. In late October another fire blackened an additional half a million acres, destroying 3,000 homes and resulting in the deaths of 10 people.
As anyone can see, this is a serious and deadly condition, and it is not limited to a specific region, climate, or even time of the year. And yet, the results are always the same: despair, destruction, and even death.
My friend Ruben Grijalva is the former Director of Cal Fire, the state’s department of forestry and fire protection. He says the devastating Southern California wildfires in October 2007 highlighted the importance for homeowners to prepare their homes for a wildfire. Among his suggestions: By simply removing dead vegetation 100 feet from homes and following a few simple steps, homeowners can drastically increase their homes chance of surviving a wildfire.
In November 2008, one fire in Orange County burned 30,305 acres in just four days, destroying 187 homes, damaging 127 others and adding up to a staggering expense: The average cost of damage per household was estimated at $640,000.
Most importantly, a majority of these structures were not lost due to direct contact with flame, but due to "ember intrusion," which could have been prevented by taking the proper care to ensure compliance with innovative building regulations recently developed by Cal Fire.
The current fire codes and standards took effect in 2008, but it’s important to note that presently, only new homes in fire hazard severity zones are required to meet the new building standards. In addition, the vast majority of existing homes in fire hazard severity zones were built with permits issued prior to 2008.
The state has a definite role to play here, and it’s why I’ve authored Assembly Bill 363 – The Fire Safe Homeowners Tax Credit.
This new law will provide a tax credit to homeowners whose residences were constructed prior to the development of the new building regulations, provided they bring their homes into compliance with the new standards. Specifically, AB 363 will allow homeowners to deduct half of the cost of home upgrades from their state income tax.
It would also take effect immediately, as well as be retroactive as of January 1, 2009, giving even more Californians an opportunity to save and invest in protecting their homes.
In addition to saving homes, it would allow firefighters to stretch their resources further by having to worry about protecting fewer homes during a wildfire, and it would create construction jobs during a time when our economy desperately needs more job creation.
This is not about finding one more way to compel many more Californians to comply with even more codes and regulations. It’s a common sense idea to empower allow more Californians to prepare for and even prevent the fire next time.