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Tom's Corner
Timley Topics From Our Chairperson Tom Schulz
August 29, 2009 - Fire safety time for a change
Progress To Date - I’ve been working on fire safety for our Sly Park Hills area & community since 2005 and I have seen a great deal of progress. It is very obvious that a great number of you have taken action on the fire safe evaluation forms we’ve been distributing and have spent much time, physical effort and $$ on creating defensible space around your homes. Working with talented and generous neighbors we have developed alternate emergency evacuation routes, removed much green waste via county supported dumpster programs, established our own web site (www.slyparkfiresafe.org ) and generated volunteers for other worthwhile community service program e.g. STARS (Sheriff’s Team of Active Retirees) and CERT (Community Emergency Response Team).
Hazardous Conditions For those of you who are concerned about the lack of fire safety maintenance and hazardous conditions of some properties in our community, both developed and undeveloped, we can act. For developed and occupied properties CAL Fire can inspect and can issue reports that can lead to sanctions (and Cal Fire can use it’s inspection and reporting authority to assist you with securing Home insurance), However, the current budget crisis and the fact that we’re in the middle of wildfire season severely limits the resources CAL Fire has for inspections. We need to coordinate such requests so that when CAL Fire has the time to respond they can do so more efficiently with a group of requests in a neighborhood. If you want some action from CAL Fire please contact me so we can organize a neighborhood relationship with them
For undeveloped properties El Dorado County Supervisor, Ray Nutting, at our request, has prepared a letter from him as Supervisor to notify absentee property owners of their need to make their properties fire safe. If you want to have such a letter sent, please contact me with the name and address of the absentee property owner and I will forward the info to the Supervisor’s office and the letter will be sent. (See Supervisor Nutting’s video on the rapidity of a wildfire on the EDC Board of Supervisors’ web site www.co.el-dorado.ca.us/bos/bosvideos).
What is remarkable is that we’ve done the above for a community with many absentee owners, renters, and/or part-time (vacation home) owners without a community organization e.g. a homeowners association. It seems that we are very close to having the elements in place for a Neighborhood Watch program which among other things could be the mechanism for our community to take care of our elderly and disabled neighbors during an emergency.
Neighborhood Watch As I announced last month I need to reduce the considerable amount of personal time and effort I’ve spent keeping this herd of cats moving towards becoming a fire wise community. This community service has reached a point in which future effectiveness needs more work than one or two of us can handle. I honestly believe that the organizational structure we need to progress further must involve more people participating and I’m hoping that the establishment of the Neighborhood Watch can serve this need. I’ll work with Mike Slusher, (our neighbor who has volunteered to restart our Sly Park Hills Neighborhood Watch program), and his STARS colleagues, to set a date and time for a meeting in September. This meeting will focus on establishing an organizational structure for our Neighborhood Watch program. Again, I believe it to be a key ‘next step’ to provide further leadership and progress for fire safety in our community.
FYI The Pollock Pines CERT will be working with Sly Park Lake (EID) staff on emergency drills the morning of Saturday, September 26.
Thanks to our Neighbors, Jan & Bob Todd, who managed the Green Waste Dumpster for three week this month. If you want Green Waste vouchers for the Diamond Springs waste collection facility (saving over $20 per load) Please contact me.
Regards, Tom Schulz, 6193 Speckled Road. 530 644-3473
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April 30, 2009 - Hello Everyone,
Here is some updated information on fire safe issues affecting our community.
Attached are the current requirements from Cal Fire regarding burning permits which are effective May 1st.
Also below is a reminder of the Pollock Pines Cleanup Day May 16. This cleanup is a great opportunity for our neighborhood to get rid of trash and debris for no charge. For those of you who can volunteer with trucks, vans and trailers, and those of you who need the help to get rid of your accumulated yard and other trash, please contact the people noted in the flyer.
You may be contacted by phone by some of our volunteer neighbors who are working to get as complete a list as possible of our Sly Park neighbors. This will be the basis for 1) emergency alert telephone trees, 2) identifying neighbors who would want and need special assistance in an emergency and 3) establishing a community organization for such things as Neighborhood Watch and emergency wildfire evacuation plans. I emphasize that this list will only be used for the planning and implementation of the above emergency measures to make sure that we can help ourselves and the first responders of the Fire Department and the Sheriff’s Department.
May is a very busy month for most of us so we plan to have our next Fire Safe Community Meeting in June, possibly a bar-be-que in conjunction with letting folks check out our new evacuation route which was discussed at our 1st meeting in March.
Regarding an issue that came up in our March meeting, we followed up on our neighbor’s concerns about the fire hazard of some of the undeveloped propertiesin our neighborhood. At our suggestion the Pollock Pines and the El Dorado Fire Safe Councils are working with Supervisor Ray Nutting to put together a letter format for all FSCs to send to owners of such properties.
Also, Green waste dumpsters will be available soon but we do have to use them ONLY for properly prepared green waste. The cost of the green waste dumpsters almost doubles when loaded with non-green waste such as old tires, trash bags, uncut large tree limbs, processed lumber etc.
At the CDF Fire Station Open House we gave out vouchers good for dropping off loads of green waste for free directly at the EDC Waste treatment facility at DIamond Springs. Reply to this message if you need one.
By the way, note that seniors and disabled are eligible for county supported brush clearance and waste removal. I'm not sure if County funds are still available but if they are or will be soon Call (530) 647-1098 to determine your eligibility and for applications.
Please make copies of this notice and forward it directly or vis e-msil to your neighbors in Sly Park Hills. We will send out flyers about more information later when we finalize a time for the June meeting.
Thanks, Tom Schulz 644-3473
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