VENTURA : Firefighters Sell Mall Shoppers on Weed Abatement

Kathy Taylor stood in the middle of the Buenaventura Mall on Saturday afternoon and approached shoppers--not with morsels of free food or a misty blast of perfume--but with informational flyers about weeds.

As weed abatement coordinator for the Ventura Fire Department, Taylor credited weed removal and careful landscaping for the lack of damage to the Vista del Mar Psychiatric Hospital during a Sept. 30 fire.

That fire consumed more than 450 acres of tinder-dry vegetation at the northwestern border of Ventura.

Taylor and other firefighters turned out Saturday to remind residents about ways to prevent fires, especially during October when the humidity is low and the Santa Ana winds are the strongest.

Homeowners, especially those who live on hillsides, should replace shake wood roofs, clear dry vegetation within 100 feet of any structure and clean up any dry tumbleweeds on their property, Taylor said.

“Be careful of needles, leaves and trees near roofs,” she said, adding that pines, junipers and eucalyptus are among the most flammable of trees.

“If Oakland and Santa Barbara had better weed-abatement programs, their

fires wouldn’t have caused as much damage,” Taylor said.

Throughout the day, the Fire Department conducted prize drawings for a cactus plant, smoke detector, a truckload of mulch and a compost bin, as well as displays of succulents and landscaping techniques.

After Halloween shopping, Brandi Alvarez, 5, and her brother, Scott, 6, climbed onto the city’s 1919 firetruck and wound up the truck’s siren in the mall’s parking lot.

The two were on an outing with their

father, Blair, and mother, Kathi, who said the Fire Department’s display was “great for my kids because they learned how to dial 911 and what to do if their clothes caught on fire.”

Today, Ventura County fire stations will lower their flags to half-staff in recognition of firefighters who have lost their lives on duty.

County Fire Capt. Wayne Pulley, who died last year responding to an emergency call in Ojai, will be honored at a national memorial service in Maryland.