A bunch of us from the Fire Safe Council, in search of lessons learned, were fortunate to tour the Arrowhead fire areas last week with San Bernardino County fire fighters, as well as members of other fire safe councils.

We had an office briefing, followed by a tour of the fire zones. Several lessons from fire fighters stood out. The first was the vulnerability of old windows to radiant heat, which in some cases cracked and blew out the single pane glass and allowed fire embers to enter the home. (The solution is to put on shutters, or replace old windows with double-pane, tempered glass.) Another was the effectiveness of fire retardant gel, which fire fighters applied to homes in the fire path, though it was difficult both to apply and keep wet in the powerful wind.

But the most important fact affecting the fires was that they burned through several fuel reduction projects carried out by various agencies (SB County, Calfire, Forest Service.) These projects did not stop the fire, but they took it out of the trees and down to the ground, thus slowing it and giving agencies precious time to place fire fighters and equipment in position.

The two major fires that burned that week around Lake Arrowhead were called The Grass Valley Fire, on the Northwest side of the lake, and the Slide Fire, which burned several miles to the Southeast around Green Valley Lake. We spent most of our time around the Grass Valley burn area. We drove to a site that showed the eastern edge of the fire and where fire fighters made a successful stand, protecting all the homes at the top of the ridge. We could see that the fire had burned right to the yards of the homes. Our guide pointed to where fuel reduction projects in the canyon had slowed the fire's ascent and probably saved all the homes on the ridge. We then drove to the south part of the fire, close to the golf course, where many homes had been destroyed. We saw many piles of ash with a lonely chimney standing in the middle. It was obvious that these homes were in the path of the strongest winds coming off the desert and being funneled down the canyon. We went to one home that was untouched, while a very large home next to it burned to the ground. The owners of the untouched home had participated in the Forest Care Program and thinned out the surrounding trees and shrubs. Most of the homes which had benefited from this thinning program in the fire areas had survived. (Call us at 659-6208 for more information).

At the last Mountain Area Safety Taskforce (MAST) meeting, Mike Dietrich, fire chief from the US Forest Service, said that they lost 450 homes in the two fires and they could have easily lost 4,500. Viewing the area, his words became clear. The fuel reduction projects allowed fire fighters to stop the fire from running through neighborhoods where it seemed the fire would naturally and easily go. So the main lesson is the one we have known-reduce the fuel load. The winds will come and fires will start, but we don't have to give fire the fuel it needs to go out of control.

Mike Esnard, MCFSC President