Local fire safe council sweeps awards event

By Wende Cornelius
For The Alpine Sun

     RAMONA — A local fire safe council swept a special awards event held Saturday, Sept. 30. The Fire Safe Council of San Diego County held its First annual Fire Safe San Diego Recognition Event. Volunteers who have obtained funding and implemented fire-safety projects to protect their communities were honored at the event at Dos Picos County Park in Ramona.
     Alpine area’s Carveacre Fire Safe Council received four awards: Outstanding Fire Safe Council of the Year; a Congressional recognition certificate from U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer; and two Carveacre residents, Dick Callahan and Wende Cornelius, were also recognized with Certificates of Appreciation.
     Keynote speaker Bruce Turbeville, founder and President of the California Fire Safe Council, recounted how the Fire Safe Council idea was sketched out on a cocktail napkin in a bar in 1993. Since then, it has developed partnerships with utility and insurance companies, government agencies on every level, and concerned homeowners — all speaking with one voice about fire safety.
     Since 1995, 55 Community Fire Safe Councils have been formed around San Diego County with the help of the Fire Safe Council of San Diego County and California Fire Safe Council.
     “Since the Cedar Fire over 25 new community fire safe councils have been formed,” said Marty Leavitt, Executive Director of the San Diego Fire Safe Council.
     Clayton Howe, of the Bureau of Land Management, reminded the audience that wildfire is a part of California history: “The earliest records available note entire native villages being wiped out, and the residents moved to the desert for nearly a full year to avoid the Great Fires.”
     Fire Safe Council of San Diego County, the Resource Conservation District of Greater San Diego County, the U.S. Forest Service-Cleveland National Forest, county Offices of Emergency Services, the county Burn Institute, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, and the county Department of Parks and Recreation hosted the recognition event in Ramona.
     “Fire Safe Councils make my job easier because what you’re accomplishing on the ground is worth millions of dollars of the state budget, and at the same time in an environmentally sensitive way,” said State Senator Dennis Hollingsworth. “Great partnerships are made when Fire Safe Councils, elected officials and fire agencies work together.”
     To help reduce damages from wildfire, fire safe councils throughout California and San Diego County are working to create 100 feet of defensible space around homes on both private and public lands, creating accessible roadways for emergency vehicles, improving address signage, implementing fire prevention curriculums into schools and communities, and raising greater awareness of the threats imposed by wildfire.
     Luckily, Alpiners don’t have to take such drastic steps to protect themselves from wildfire. The Greater Alpine Fire Safe Council is able to join with noteworthy neighboring councils from areas such as Mt. Laguna, Julian, Palomar Mountain, Scripps Ranch and Deer Springs in taking steps to protect local homes before the next big fire roars into town.
     For more information on how you can get involved in the Greater Alpine Fire Safe Council, contact Wende Cornelius at 733-5579. For more information about local fire safe councils, or about how to organize your own community group check online at www.firesafesdcounty.org or www.firesafecouncil.org.

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