Cooling Hot Tempers Part of the Job

Los Angeles Firefighter Joe Flores has learned to look for dog toys and dishes as much as for debris, weeds and other hazards while conducting fire inspections. The canine items may indicate an angry dog nearby.

But the bigger challenge is dealing with people who don’t want to cooperate. Sometimes, homeowners won’t allow Flores on their property, even after he identifies himself.

“They’re usually people out of compliance and mad at the whole system,” he said. “But leaving everything out here threatens our lives when we go out there to save their homes. We can get killed because we don’t have a defensible space.”

Flores and other firefighters have found themselves at the center of an unwanted dispute, in which many San Fernando Valley residents have bitterly criticized a new $13 brush-clearance inspection fee imposed by the city. They have run into unhappy homeowners at a critical time: Inspections are beginning, and firefighters say that with extra growth from recent heavy rains, they are more important than ever.

As part of an eight-member team, Flores will inspect 3,000 to 5,000 parcels this month. He will write perhaps 400 notices to property owners who have violations like untrimmed tree branches near roofs or chimneys, and tall weeds.

Cutting weeds and grass keeps flames from rising, said Los Angeles Fire Inspector Kenneth Brondell, who accompanied Flores during a recent round of inspections. In all, 40 inspectors will visit 180,000 parcels--homes, ranches, condos or vacant lots--this month, he said.

Earlier this week, using a hand-held computer that sends information into a larger Fire Department mainframe computer, Flores entered violation notices for four lots near Alethea Drive. Citations will follow by mail. If brush is not cleared within 15 days, owners could face a $204 fine, Flores said.

Most property owners obey the law. Owners of about 80% of the parcels are compliant from the beginning, Brondell said, and about 75% of the violations will be corrected within the allotted two weeks. The city then hires contractors to remove brush on lots where owners, sometimes absentee ones, fail to respond, Brondell said. In those instances, the bill can be more than $700 because of administrative fees, he said.

“We’ll get resistance. They’ll say, ‘I’ve lived here 35 years and never seen a fire,’ ” Brondell said. “Yeah, but [the fire] will come. It’s not a question of if, but when.”

Because it rained so much last year, Brondell explained, “the potential is great for a bad fire season.”

“It’s a dragon breath against the hills. Most people don’t appreciate they can’t outrun a fire,” he added.

The City Council is now grappling with the politically unpopular inspection fee: when to apply it, and how to allow for exceptions.

Valley residents revolted in March when advised of the new $13 fee to cover the $3-million cost of the inspection program. Many people were turned off by the 180,000 tersely worded letters threatening fines. The city has suspended collecting the fee until another letter is mailed. For the last 20 years, the program was done without additional costs to the public, Brondell said.

Observers said the brush-clearance bill may also have played a role in many Valley residents’ opposition to the $744-million bond issue for police and fire stations that voters defeated last month.

Ironically, the fee grew out of fear of selective enforcement, Brondell said. One house recently cleared of debris on Rim Canyon Road, for example, still faced potential danger from lots with tall weeds nearby, he said.

“If neighbors fail to comply, that house could be threatened from flames from down below,” Brondell said. “It would not be the homeowner’s fault. He did what he could do.”

The fire inspectors follow a simple motto, according to Brondell.

“If it’s dead, get rid of it; if it’s green, maintain it. That’s what we’re looking for--not stripping the vegetation people decorate their homes with.”

“I try to educate people,” Flores said. “If we have a big fire out here, I’m sure I’ll be out here fighting it.”

Brondell said it only takes fuel, such as tall weeds, topography and weather to create a brush fire.

And firefighters only have control over the potential fuels.

“What we really hope is this is an effort for nothing,” he said. “If we can do our job well, you don’t know that we did.”