Brush-Clearing Efforts Begin on Private Lands

More than a year after the devastating Normal Heights fire, the San Diego Fire Department is focusing on property owners of canyon rim homes and structures as part of an eight-year, $234,000 brush management program.

Property owners not complying with fire ordinances on the height of brush will receive notices from the Fire Department asking them to reduce to two inches or less any brush and weeds within 30 feet of a structure. Brush and weeds must be cut to 18 inches if they are 30 to 70 feet from a structure.

Inspection began Wednesday on areas determined as high priority through a survey conducted by the Fire Department in July, said fire Capt. Terry Finch, who will oversee the effort to clear privately owned brush. He said three Fire Department inspectors have surveyed the Normal Heights, Kensington, Mission Hills and Hillcrest areas on the southern slope of Mission Valley and the San Clemente Canyon area south of California 52.

The brush-clearing program is part of the city’s new fire-prevention consciousness since the July 30, 1985, fire in Normal Heights, which destroyed 64 homes and damaged 20 others. No one was killed or severely injured.

Before the fire, canyons had been considered “sacred” by city officials, without much worry that the brush growing there might fuel a fire, according to Jeff Marston, an aide to Councilwoman Gloria McColl, whose district includes Normal Heights.

“There was always a feeling of, ‘Hey, leave the canyons alone,’ ” Marston said.

In the public sector, the Park and Recreation Department is coordinating a similar program for 915 acres of city-owned property given high priority during the Fire Department survey. That program received $865,000.

A Park and Recreation Department official said the department is accepting bids from private contractors to clear the brush. A contractor is to be selected by Oct. 1. The spokesman said clearing of the high-priority, city-owned property is expected to be completed by June 30.

Marston said high-priority private land will probably all be cleared and in compliance with ordinances this year.

Earlier this year, McColl recommended to the City Council a $2.2-million weed-clearing program for privately owned canyon areas. The council instead opted for the less-expensive brush management program. According to Marston, McColl sought to extend the current weed abatement program, which focuses almost exclusively on vacant flatland. Under this program, property owners who don’t follow city demands to cut down their weeds are billed by the city after a city-hired private contractor does it for them.

Marston said the fire prevention funding McColl was asking for would have been a faster response to high-priority canyon areas.

“It (the current funding) just doesn’t go far enough,” Marston said. “(McColl) understands the budget restraints and will bring it up next year.”