Growth Spills Off the Maps : Antelope, Santa Clarita Valleys a Maze in Emergencies

The Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys, in their rapid transformation from rural outposts to suburbia, have become such a hodgepodge of unmapped streets and invisible addresses that firefighters and sheriff’s deputies fear they will be unable to find the sites of emergencies, a report to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors said Tuesday.

The supervisors responded by ordering formation of a committee to study the problem.

The board, voting on a motion by Supervisor Mike Antonovich, directed public works officials to organize a group of county employees and community representatives to study the problem and report back with possible solutions in 90 days.

Antonovich was absent from Tuesday’s meeting, but said in his motion that emergency vehicles are having an increasingly difficult time responding to calls in foothill communities, where many roads are private and do not appear on official county maps.

He said some new homes are given addresses on streets that have yet to be built, a problem that is compounded by a lack of street signs and the fact that many addresses are not visible from roads.

In interviews, fire and law enforcement officials said they could cite no specific instances in which citizens suffered because of difficulties finding a home, but they are aware of the problem and fear it is growing worse.

“I was on an inspection in Acton last week,” said county fire inspector Tom Little, who is based in Lancaster. “It took me half an hour to find the house, and I’ve lived up here since 1962. I knew about where it was at. I had a Thomas Guide in front of me, and I still had a hard time finding it.

“If there was a fire, you’d see smoke and go to that,” Little said. “But if someone has a heart attack, and there are no visible signs of a problem, how would you know where to go?”

Capt. Terry Hart, based at County Fire Station 80 in Acton, said a house in his area had an address on Hubbard Road, but actually fronted on Hughes Canyon, more than half a mile away. “I’d bet you we’ve got 100 houses in this area not fronting on the street where they have an address,” he said.

Antelope Valley Sheriff’s Deputy Mike Grimes said his substation, which serves almost 1,500 square miles, does not receive maps of new areas from local cities and the county in a timely fashion.

“They’re not up to date because of all the new tracts going in,” he said, adding that deputies responding to calls sometimes have difficulty finding their destination.

Authorities said some old homes in the area are set back from the road. New houses are built in front, and both use the same street in their address, although the older house no longer fronts the street. A house might have an address indicating that it is on a north-south street, when actually it is on a portion of a winding road that runs east and west.

“It’s creating all kinds of confusion,” said Antonovich’s deputy, Dave Vanatta.

Not everyone in the area is experiencing problems, however. Chief Mike Balzano, whose station covers the unincorporated territory in the Santa Clarita Valley, said one of his subordinates is assigned full-time to updating the station’s maps. “We feel comfortable that we know where everything is,” he said.