Burned Once Is Enough

Residents of recently burned areas in Southern California understandably fret about the costs of rebuilding the houses that wildfire devoured. But going back to narrow streets and wooden houses is too dangerous to consider.

San Bernardino County supervisors have taken the first, necessary step toward imposing stiffer fire safety rules for new and rebuilt structures in the mountains. The plan that won their preliminary approval even calls for the politically unpopular step of a special tax district to pay for widening roads and bringing in a better water system. They should stick with that plan -- and leaders in other fire-blackened areas, most notably foot-dragging San Diego County, should follow. Stiffer building codes usually follow catastrophic fires, and homeowners always wonder how they will manage it. It’s hard enough to recoup through insurance the basic replacement of home and possessions. Cedar Glen, one of the hardest-hit areas, is a working-class community whose families don’t have deep pockets.

Shortly after the fire, county officials had indicated that they might not require homeowners to rebuild to higher codes, or widen the rustic roads that gave firetrucks no room to maneuver. They wisely changed their minds. The costs to the economy, the state and the environment from a wildfire far outweigh homeowners’ protests about the cost of double-paned windows and fire-retardant roofs. Supervisors were flexible where they could be -- saying they would consider waiving or reducing building fees for people who show economic hardship -- but unwilling to budge where it counts, on the basic safety issues. County officials similarly must push forward with notices requiring homeowners to remove burned or beetle-infested dead trees from their property. So far, it has issued 6,000 notices, but residents, despite the devastation around them, are balking at the cost of tree removal.

But just as urban homeowners are required to fix ruptured sewer lines that endanger public health or repair properties that become public nuisances, people who choose to live in and around wilderness areas must bear some of the associated costs.

Of course, their efforts will mean nothing if the U.S. Forest Service fails to quickly remove the dead trees on its land -- and if the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service continues to drag its heels for years longer on requests for controlled burns to remove dense undergrowth in these and other wilderness areas.