Chief Denies Claims He Is Ill-Prepared for Major Fire Season

Fire season hasn’t started yet, but the conflagrations are already underway at Los Angeles City Hall.

Twice in the last two weeks, City Councilwoman Laura Chick has lashed out at the city Fire Department over what she contends is lack of preparedness in the face of an El Nino overgrowth of brush.

But for Fire Chief William R. Bamattre, the controversy is just another day’s work, all too typical of the kind of battles erupting within the Fire Department as it tries to meet contradictory goals: saving money and doing more.

In an interview last week, Bamattre defended his department against the accusation that it has responded sluggishly to the fire threat, saying his office has been requesting more resources for brush clearance for a year.

“It’s the old ‘crying wolf’ story,” he said. “You keep crying, but no one does anything until the wolf is at the door.”

The chief acknowledged that the department’s recent request for $4.5 million to hire inspectors and pay for more brush clearance was developed on short notice.

But he said the department had no choice, since no one knew how many homes failed to comply with the brush-clearance ordinance until inspections were completed.

Striking back at his critics on the City Council, Bamattre said earlier requests for funds were turned down by city accountants who said the department needed more evidence to show the funds were needed.

“Why didn’t we ask for money sooner? We couldn’t have,” Bamattre said. “They [the council] would have laughed at us.”

Part of the Fire Department’s problem is the paradoxical result of its diligent pursuit of brush clearance in recent years.

The city of Los Angeles started its brush-clearance program in 1982. But after the 1993 Malibu fires, the city made the program stricter, passing a new ordinance that doubled the clearance distances required around structures. That measure is being enforced for the first time this year.

At the same time, the city added several new fire zones, such as Baldwin Hills, to the city’s list of high-risk areas, boosting the workload and spreading resources thinner, Bamattre said.

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The combination of these changes resulted in more citations for violations than in past years. More than 180,000 private and public properties within the city limits were inspected. Owners of about 21,000 of them were cited for uncleared brush--about 5,000 more than last year, and about 8,000 have not complied.

The numbers contrast with those of Los Angeles County Fire Department’s brush-clearance program. Assistant Forestry Division Chief Herb Spitzer said the county, which has required 200-foot brush-clearance setbacks for a decade, enjoys more than a 90% compliance rate with brush-clearance requirements.

City Fire Marshal Jimmy Hill, though, disputed this finding, saying the county, which only inspects 30,000 properties, does not pursue enforcement as aggressively as the city.

Councilwoman Chick, head of the Public Safety Committee, has been especially critical of the city Fire Department for its brush-clearance record.

Chick faulted the department for not sounding the alarm. In response to her questions about the program, she said: “I got an answer from that famous song, ‘don’t worry, be happy.’ What the heck is going on with the brush-clearance program?”

Ultimately, homeowners need to learn that clearing brush can reduce the risk of losing their home, but that they can’t rely on the city to take care of the problem for them, Bamattre said.

“I don’t believe we should be in the lot-cleaning business,” Bamattre said. “We’ve got to get around this business of property owners saying, ‘I’ll just let the city do it.’ ”

Bamattre favors higher financial penalties for people who don’t comply with the ordinance, a recommendation also being considered by the Public Safety Committee, which is scheduled to discuss the brush-clearance program Sept. 28.

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In the meantime, Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Ed Loney said the El Nino fire season fears have yet to be realized.

As late as Friday, fire danger in the Southland was still being called “moderate” by fire officials, an unusually low rating for this time of year. Fire season often starts at the end of September, depending on when the Santa Ana winds kick up.

And recent research shows that El Nino years typically don’t produce severe fire seasons, he said. In five out of six El Nino years on record, large fires came a year later.

“The year of heavy rains isn’t the big fire year,” he said. “It’s the following year.”