Officials Warn of Slippery Slopes

Ventura County hillsides charred by recent wildfires pose a flooding risk to hundreds of residents below, and officials say homeowners must take action now to prevent disaster this winter.

Homeowners should clear rain gutters and drains around their houses, stockpile sandbags and refrain from over-irrigating during the rainy season, a panel of experts told 150 Ventura homeowners at a workshop Thursday. They should also have plans to divert mud and cascading water away from buildings and enlist the help of neighbors, officials said.

A blaze that began Nov. 18 consumed 4,000 acres of hillside brush north of Ventura, leaving slopes devoid of vegetation.

Flood control engineers are inspecting denuded hillsides to determine the greatest areas of risk, and workers are clearing drains in anticipation of the wet months ahead, said Ventura city spokeswoman Vicki Musgrove.

But residents have to do their part as well, she said.

“We’re trying to help you help yourselves,” she told the crowd Thursday.

Residents of Box and Bell canyons south of Simi Valley were given similar advice after a Sept. 28 firestorm that devoured 25,000 acres along the line between Ventura and Los Angeles counties.

Many homeowners there and in charred areas near Chatsworth and Calabasas have already inspected their homes and requested sandbags, said Ventura County Supervisor Linda Parks.

Meanwhile, the county’s top fire official is pressing for additional safety measures.

Ventura County Fire Chief Bob Roper is proposing expanding the weed-clearance perimeters around some hillside homes beyond the currently required 100-foot zone. Firefighters could better protect structures if homeowners cleared bigger swaths -- as much as 200 feet wide -- around their homes each spring, he said.

Roper said a consultant would help devise a formula, based on topography, that would specify how wide the cleared area must be.

If adopted, the proposal would apply only to houses close to steep canyons where the risk of fast-moving flames is greatest, and there are probably fewer than 1,000 homes in that category, Roper said.

Ventura County supervisors have tentatively approved the plan. Roper said he would seek a final vote when he returned with details in about a year.

Los Angeles County already requires a 200-foot zone in some high-risk areas, he said. Statewide, the minimum area for brush clearance is 100 feet.

The issue can be touchy, because homeowners bear the annual cost of clearing vegetation. Ventura County sends notices to 15,000 property owners each spring advising that, if brush is not cleared, the county will hire a contractor to do the work at the owners’ expense.

Homeowner Michael Zelcer told workshop participants that he spends about $300 a year clearing debris around his Aliso Street home in the Ventura hills. Beyond that, he said, he landscapes nearby slopes with drought-tolerant shrubbery to control erosion.

Zelcer said that though Roper’s plan might help fight fires, it would do nothing to address winter flooding.

“They’re only interested in the fire. They’re not interested in the flood,” he said. “There’s nothing to hold the sediment on the hillside right now. When heavy rains come, it will turn into soup.”

Robert Miller, an engineer with the Natural Resource Conservation Service, told the audience that his agency might seed the hillsides to prevent erosion.