County Reverses Policy on Homeowners Fighting Fires : Disasters: Officials hold expos to help residents learn techniques. Heavy losses in 1993 blazes prompted change.

In the past, the sight of a homeowner squirting water on a roof in the middle of a brush fire has been one of the last things firefighters wanted to see.

But last fall’s disastrous brush fires have caused Los Angeles County fire officials to change their minds--and their policy--about discouraging homeowners from staying to save their own homes.

Authorities are now offering to help residents learn how to protect their property and use professional-type firefighting equipment to do it.

“It’s a change in our thinking,” county fire Capt. Steve Valenzuela said. “But it’s a fact of life that people are going to stay behind . . . if people are going to help us by staying, the best way they can do that is to be prepared in advance.”

Homeowners living in isolated neighborhoods in mountains and canyons on the outskirts of Los Angeles will be taught how to assess the risk of staying. Those who decide to stick it out will be given advice on preparing their house for a stand against an approaching fire and on the proper firefighting gear to use.

Officials are staging a series of wildfire expos to give homeowners a chance to purchase equipment ranging from goggles and flame-resistant clothing to sophisticated rooftop sprinklers that can be activated by heat sensors--or by a telephone call from a resident who is away from home when a brush fire breaks out.

Because of traffic problems during brush fires, residents who are away from home--or those who decide to evacuate--will not be allowed to return until after the emergency is over, officials say.

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Other devices being demonstrated at the expos include sprinkler systems that capture and recycle runoff water from roofs, and pumps that can operate fire hoses from swimming pools.

More novel are water-saving foam nozzle systems that can coat a house with a soapy fire retardant that will stick for hours.

“If you have a back-yard Jacuzzi, you have enough water to foam your whole house,” said Steve Miller, whose Tech Flow Industries of Glendale is one of nearly four dozen private vendors recruited by the county Fire Department to display firefighting equipment at the expos. “If you have a swimming pool, you can protect the whole neighborhood.”

Fire officials acknowledge that there is a danger that panicky amateur firefighters could drain their local water systems, hampering the efforts of the professionals.

“We’re preaching conservation--don’t waste water too far ahead of the fire,” said Valenzuela, who has helped organize the expos.

County fire officials say their change of heart came after they were unable to save about 475 homes in Altadena and Malibu, where residents were discouraged from fighting fires on their own. “People looked at their neighborhoods and saw three-fourths of the homes destroyed and they almost felt betrayed by their fire service,” said county Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman, who proposed the new policy.

“We’re not taking a position to urge anyone to stay,” Freeman said. “We’re just trying to capitalize on lessons from our recent experiences with a very disastrous fire season.”

Los Angeles city fire officials are closely watching the county’s efforts, city Battalion Chief Jim Haworth said. He said that the brush fire danger this year could rival that of last year.

“We’re so effective at putting out the small fires in the summer that we’re allowing large areas of brush to become older and more decadent,” Haworth said. “There’s more of it now to burn . . . and more people living in the hills to be jeopardized by it than ever before.”

About 1,000 people attended an initial expo last weekend in Santa Clarita, according to fire Inspector Michael Chuck. The next one is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at the San Dimas Civic Center, 245 E. Bonita Ave. Expos are planned for coming weekends in Malibu, Palos Verdes and Altadena.

Along with the vendors’ displays, booths operated by a dozen or so public agencies will provide information on such topics as animal control, livestock evacuation and Red Cross shelter services, Chuck said.

Although a videotape showing firefighting techniques is being shown at the expos, the county is stopping short of training do-it-yourself firefighters--at least for now.

“We’ll offer advice,” such as how to ride out the peak of a wildfire by closing yourself in the house as the flames reach your property, Valenzuela said. After 5 or 10 minutes, it will probably be safe enough to go outside and try to extinguish any ignition points on the house, according to experts.

“But we haven’t gone so far as to put them through the firefighter training academy yet,” he said.

Other changes are being initiated by the county Fire Department through what it calls Operation Firestop:

* Residents of the Whittier Hills area are being invited to an Aug. 13 tour of canyon areas to hear firefighters explain where brush fires historically burn and where safe refuge areas for residents will likely be during future fires.

* For the first time, fixed-wing airplanes that can drop tons of fire retardant on hillsides in a single sweep will be automatically summoned on every two-alarm brush fire response.

* Beefed-up mutual aid agreements with the Los Angeles City Fire Department will allow for quicker deployment of water-dropping city helicopters on unincorporated hillsides. On dry, hot and windy days when there is a potential for brush fires, some inner-city fire trucks will be assigned to stand by near brushy areas.

* Neighborhood arson patrols are being increased through the Sheriff’s Department. About 500 volunteers have been recruited--including a new group in the Santa Clarita Valley.

* A mailer offering brush fire safety tips and suggestions that homeowners in unincorporated areas and 22 hill-area cities covered by the county Fire Department will be sent in about two weeks to 435,000 homes.

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Hillside residents said they are pleased with the county’s reaction to last fall’s firestorm disaster.

“We know people who stayed and saved their homes,” said Gretchen Hayes--whose Malibu residence was destroyed. “If we knew our risk, we could have better defended ourselves.”

But Altadena resident Ursula Hyman said staying to protect your home is not for everybody.

“I think a note of caution is needed. Clearly some residents could have saved their homes if they were present. In other cases there might have been a loss of life.

“But I’m giving the Fire Department higher and higher marks as we go along.”