Minutes

GREATER LAGUNA COAST FIRE SAFE COUNCIL

September 21, 2002

9:00 a.m.  Laguna Beach City Hall

I.   Introductions

David Horne, Chairman, Board Member

Beverly Farrier, Scribe

Ken Crumley, Board Member

Warren Cleary, Board Member

Ilse Lenschow, Board Member

Wayne Peterson, Board Member

Katy Crumley, Volunteer

Hesh  Lensky, Volunteer

Mark Baker, LBFD

Jon-David Horne, Volu;nteer

Mary Applegate, Volunteer

Dan Drake, OCFA

John Fox, Board Member

Patrick Freeman, Allstate Ins 

II.   Approval of the Minutes of the August 10th Meeting

Wayne Peterson moved to approve the minutes of the August 10 meeting, Warren Cleary seconded, minutes approved.

III.   Announcements

A.     California Fire Safe Council

·        Council voted to become its own contracting agency in dealing with other federal agencies  (Bureau of Indian Affairs, BLM, Fish and Game, Forest Service, etc.) who have money for fire prevention

·        Federal government wants to develop a common reporting system from one body

·        California is attracting more of the money because we are more advanced in proactively dealing with the fire issue

·        Officers appointed: Bruce Turberville-Chair, Ken Bromsky-Vice Chair, Leo McElroy-Secretary, David Horne-Treasurer

·        Tuesday, Fish and Game will have a couple hundred thousand dollars available

·        501c3 submitted

·        Checking/savings account opened – in business! 

·         Next meeting scheduled for Oct 24 in Butte County

B.     Southern Coastal Section Meeting November 2

·        Southern Section includes Santa Barbara to Bishop, south

·        David Horne is the Southern Coastal Section representative

·        Sponsor meeting Nov 2 at City Hall – Carole Zavala will be moderator

·        Focus of meeting on eliciting issues the State Wide Council should deal with, e.g., insurance, grant opportunities, assistance with building websites

·        David Horne will take the results to the State Wide Council in January

C.     Fire Wise Communities—Dan Drake, Orange County Fire Authority

  Mark Baker, Laguna Beach Fire Department

·        Meeting was held Aug 28-29 in Agora Hills for the Fire Wise Communities, sponsored by the California Fire Alliance

·        Federal agencies gather together to see how they can work together in the cause of fire mitigation to sponsor localized community workshops—this was the first of nine scheduled through the next 18 months

·        Mark Baker went as our representative

·        Exceptional program composed of a diverse group of city planners, insurance, architects, concerned citizens, and fire prevention personnel

·        Sub groups of diverse peoples were formed and given exercises to work through problems

·        Variety of resources available, e.g., notebook on Fire Wise Landscaping, small pamphlets for residents, also available on Fire Safe Council web site

·        Encourage more of our people to attend future meetings

·        $50 registration fee was well worth it

·        Federal funding to stay the same as last year

D.    Mark Baker’s Request

·        Request to reimburse Mark for the registration fee of $50 and hotel for one night to attend the Fire Wise Communities meeting. Warren Cleary moved to approve, Wayne Peterson seconded—$160.88 expense approved

E.     Progress on Research Plan

·        Cal State Fullerton graduate class on qualitative research met and is on track

·        Southern Coastal Community will produce a planting and maintenance guide for tight confines, and produced in a manner that people will actually use

·        Several thousand dollars budgeted, but grad class will do it for few hundred dollars

·        A Spanish guide will also be available

·        First chunk of grant money should be coming soon, by the end of the month

·        Report prepared and submitted to the federal agencies indicating how their money is spent

·        Next meeting is Monday, September 23, where David will give more direction to the project

VII      Red Flag Report

·        A spreadsheet and calling mechanism is in place

·        48 bags containing signs, camera, hat, maps, flag for car are ready are to go

·        Resources available for 100 bags

·        Volunteers are registered with the fire department

·        29 businesses volunteered to fly large fire alert flag—main problem in the downtown area pertains to low flying flags and liability

·        Flag placement OK in the canyon

·        Council will call businesses and inform them when to put up the flag and when to take it down

·        Suggestion made to place high flying flags at city entrances during alerts, possibly attaching them to city signs

·        Training session today

VIII     Planning for November 2 Meeting

A.     Meeting Plan

·        9:00-12:00 – information gathering at City Hall

·        12:00 – light lunch for participants

·        Following, optional tours including, tours through town, goats in action, reservoirs, drive through big fire areas

·        Assistance by grad student and public relations firm

·        Ken Frank/City agreed to pay for buses for tours ($60 per hour, $240 total)

·        Need to reserve bus and driver

·         

B.     Make-up of meeting

·        First time regional people will be coming together, hopefully with Arrowhead, Santa Barbara, Bishop, San Diego representation

·        Focus on finding out what these people are interested in

·        Fire Chief and Mark Baker involved

IX        Old Business

·        Board should see financial statement at next meeting

·        Quarterly reports available

X         New Business - None

XI        Next Meeting – Nov 16, 9:00 a.m.

Warren Cleary moved to adjourn, Ilse Lenschow seconded, meeting adjourned at 10:00

Submitted by Beverly Farrier