Disaster Relief for Victims of Southern California Fires

Throughout my 16 years as a firefighter/paramedic, I have witnessed many horrible incidents. The recent destructive fires are among those experiences.

I am amazed at the difficulty we have passing laws which ban wood roofs or the difficulty we have getting compliance from homeowners in clearing flammable brush from around their homes.

The California State Firemen’s Assn. and many other fire service organizations have pushed for a ban on wood roofs in new construction, pushed to ban the private use of fireworks, pushed for laws to require the installation of residential sprinklers in new construction, pushed for laws which protect your lives and property; how successful do you feel we have been?

I can assure you that the effort will continue at the state and local levels, yet we need your voice. We are having difficulty getting two legislative bills passed as we wrote them; AB 2666 by Assemblywoman Bev Hansen and SB 1830 by Sen. Cecil Green, which would have permitted local governments to pass building standards more restrictive than state law, have been significantly amended to our dissatisfaction and to the detriment of local control and fire safety.

You can help by writing to the Senate Housing Committee, Chairman Leroy Greene, 2205 State Capitol, Sacramento 95814, and asking him to see that these bills are passed to our satisfaction.

DAN COFFMAN

President Pro-Tem

California State Firemen’s Assn.

Sacramento