Owners in Fire-Proned Areas Warned

Last month’s wild fires in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties--all allegedly deliberately started--underscore the impact that arsonists have on the lives of many Southland residents.

According to Mike Harris of California Fair Plan in Los Angeles, residents of hillside and other fire-prone areas should begin their anti-arson battle by monitoring all suspicious activity in their neighborhoods.

“If you see suspicious looking people or vehicles in your neighborhood, notify the police immediately,” Harris said. “If you see smoke or someone cooking in an area that is not a camp site, notify the authorities.”

Many communities in fire-prone areas have established citizen patrols, neighbors who volunteer one night a week to patrol their neighborhood looking for suspicious activity, Harris said.

Residents can also band together with their fire and police departments and other community representatives to form an arson task force, keeping all groups apprised of various anti-arson activities, he said.

Finally, communities can initiate arson hot lines and rewards for information leading to the conviction of arsonists. There is already one such hot line, Harris said, (800) 47ARSON, that offers a $500 reward for the arrest and conviction of arsonists.

Besides patrolling the neighborhood for suspicious people, residents should make certain that physical conditions in the area will make it difficult to sustain a brush fire, according to David H. Crocker of the Western Insurance Information Service, Los Angeles.

Taking steps to prevent losses in fire-prone hillside areas is better than collecting insurance proceeds after the loss, he said. The following precautions should reduce fire losses:

--Keep the area around your house clear of brush. A state law requires that all flammable vegetation be removed within 30 feet of all structures. It’s better to keep brush clear within 100 feet to create a fire break. A free brochure on fire-retardant plants is available from Western Insurance Information Service at (800) 397-1697.

--Establish an escape route from your house and your neighborhood.

--Establish a “telephone tree.” Collect the work phone numbers of all your neighbors and leave them with a neighbor who is home weekdays. In the event of fire, this neighbor can alert everyone at work.

--If you have a wood shake or shingle roof, consider installing a roof watering system. Soakers and flooders are better than sprinkler-type systems.

--Better yet, replace a wooden roof with a tile or composition roof that won’t readily support combustion of wind-driven embers. Many communities ban wood roofs on new houses, but don’t require owners of existing homes to install fire-resistant roofs.