MCFSC President, Mike Esnard, opened the meeting by presenting the history of the Mountain Communities Fire Safe Council and the projects on which the council has and continues to work. He announced the recent approval by the Riverside County Supervisors of our local Community Wildfire Protection Plan. He concluded his talk by describing the new state fire abatement requirements property owners must meet for their properties to pass inspection.

Next Tom O'Keefe spoke. While re-enforcing what Esnard had said, he also talked about the importance of having and implementing the Community Wildfire Protection Plan. In San Bernardino an implemented plan saved one community while the one next to it without a plan burned.

Norm Walker had just returned from the Millard Fire and again re-enforced the importance of fire abatement. He related an earlier (and he said fair) criticism of the Forest Service for not having cleaned up their land. He then briefly talked about the cleanup which the Forest Service has more recently done to create firebreaks and do prescribed burns around our community.

Kevin Turner talked about what CDF has done and about the various grant and special programs CDF has to help people abate their properties.

Tim Morin described the work NRCS has done on large parcels of land with money provided by the Federal government. NRCS has spent almost $20 million in the San Jacinto District of the San Bernardino National Forest. They have removed dead trees from very inaccessible areas using a helicopter to remove the wood.

The final speaker was Steve Kunkle who expressed his concern about people who don't live here and may not even live in California and how difficult it is to get them to abate their property.

Kunkle, Esnard and Blair Ceniceros all expressed concern and frustration over the weakness of the laws in enforcing abatement on those who refuse to do it. While acknowledging that most people are good stewards of their land, the law needs teeth and agencies need resources to have the land abated, pay the contractors and then charge the landowners for the work which has been done. The MCFSC supports this position of stronger enforcement.

Assemblyman Benoit stressed that he is happy to work with a community on subjects where the community and government interests intersect as in the case of fire safety and property abatement.