Crackling flames: a welcoming warmth at the hearth, a comforting friend at a campfire. But when a blaze leaps out of control, it scorches lives and blisters dreams.
When the smoke clears and the embers grow cold, families have to find a way to go forward.
One such family is the Roach family, who, like the mythical phoenix, have risen from the ashes.
They lost one daughter, Ashleigh, to the Paradise fire. Their other daughter, Allyson, faces the challenge of her young life.
Returning to a normal life is the dream quest of Allyson Roach and those who love her.
News of the Roach family’s tragedy and the challenges they faced, including their daughter's fight for survival after the firestorm, produced an outpouring of humanitarianism from our little community.
Starting here in Valley Center—and extending across oceans—love, faith and compassion for this family has abounded. Hearts and minds have joined in an ongoing effort to assist the Roach family. In particular, Allyson Roach.
Recently, news of Allyson's impending twenty-first birthday sparked a new wave of compassion.
A resident of Valley Center wanted to provide a birthday card that Allyson's supporters could sign. It would have to be a large card to accommodate all the signatures anticipated.
She located the card at a Hallmark card shop in Escondido. The shopkeeper, Shirley, of CC’s Hallmark in Escondido, refused to sell the card and insisted on donating it.
The Roadrunner is hosting the birthday card in our office and we invite everyone to come in and sign it before Allyson’s 21st birthday, which is on Feb. 12.
The paper will also print a special birthday greeting in next week’s edition. Readers are invited to send email or hand written greetings or photos, to be included in this special page. Although we’ll try to include all greetings, they will be subject to space availability.
Try to get these in by Friday, Feb. 6.
The Roach family offers a rousing thank you to everyone who has offered prayers and well-wishes.
Unless we get more rain, and soon, we may face a fire season even worse than last year.
Even though fire season officially ended at 8 a.m. on Monday, California Dept. of Forestry and Fire Protection isn’t acting as though the threat has been removed. CDF is still staffing ten stations in the County when normally it staffs only three this time of year (three of them in Valley Center, fortunately).
Rainfall so far this year is much lower than last year when the drought forced the removal of thousands of trees on Palomar Mountain, created conditions for the “perfect firestorm” in San Diego County, which caused over 250 families to lose their homes in Valley Center alone.
So far (not counting any rain we got on Monday or Tuesday), Valley Center has recorded 4.49 inches this season (since July 1).
Last year’s rainy season in VC (from July 1, 2002-June 30, 2003) was 18.55 inches.
In nearby Ramona, the rainfall since July 1 has been 1.46 inches. Last year by this time 5.98 inches had fallen. The average by this date is 7.93 inches.
On Palomar Mountain so far this year there has been little snow. Average annual snowfall there is 35.7 inches, although admittedly the heaviest snowfall months are February and March, with a few inches in April.
This year, says VC Fire Chief Kevin O’Leary, “CDF kept ten stations open because the moisture in the fuel is still at the critical level.”
That means that many flammable plants have as little moisture in them as they would normally around August or September.
“Brush is still in drought mode which means you could potentially have major fire occur, if you have east winds.”
Brush has about 68 percent fuel moisture. Anything below 75 percent is considered “critical,” according to O’Leary.
O’Leary cites the mortality of trees at the higher elevations and says that 40 percent of the brush is already dead. That’s in areas that were not burned last November.
O’Leary says he is seeing grasses regenerating in burn areas, so there’s not much potential for fires there.
“If we get the rain and the grass grows we could have potential for a lot of grass fires but those are easily controlled.”
This week O’Leary and others responsible for fire protection in the County have been meeting to discuss fuel management and contingency plans for unburned areas.
“We need to get people to start complying with clearance regulations,” said the Chief.
Of course, many people who want to clear their property of brush run into county regulations telling them they can’t.
“There are stumbling blocks along the way,” commented O’Leary, but added, “I think it was made pretty clear to everyone that homes need to be able to stand on their own.”
The ratio of homes to fire engines was 20 to one in the Paradise fire, he says. That’s too high. The more homes whose landscaping makes them fire resistant, the more homes can be saved, he says.
By DAVID ROSS
Part I of a series
March 2 voters of San Diego County will vote on an ambitious initiative that would take much of the land use authority from the Board of Supervisors and place it directly into the hands of voters countywide.
Prop. A is also known as the Rural Lands Initiative. Its description in the sample ballot says, simply: “Shall the Rural Lands Initiative, which requires any newly subdivided parcels on approximately 694,000 acres of rural land in northern and eastern San Diego County to be a minimum of 40, 80 or 160 acres, be approved?”
If it passes, projects in places like Valley Center or Campo or Ramona would require approval by voters of the entire county to make any changes in the minimums established for those 694,000 acres. Those restrictions would remain in effect until 2023.
Prop. A would have a profound effect on land use in Valley Center and Pauma Valley. It would downzone about 20 percent of the Valley’s property and would, in the words of Pala/Pauma Sponsor Group Chairman Joe Chisholm, “have a major impact on Pauma Valley.”
Its impact countywide would be similar to that of its predecessor, Prop. C, the Forest Conservation Initiative, passed in 1993, which has prevented any change to the land use density in the mountain communities of Descanso, Palomar Mountain and Cuyamaca. A minimum density of one unit per 40 acres was imposed on these towns, except for small commercial zones known as Country Towns.
It would also, in effect, tear up several years of work that local residents in various committees around the County have performed in crafting General Plan 2020.
The brain child of SOFAR (Save Our Forests and Ranchlands) leader Duncan McFetridge, The Rural Lands Initiative is his second attempt to apply a law similar to one in Portland, Oregon to San Diego County.
The previous attempt, Prop B, called the Rural Heritage and Watershed Initiative was defeated in 1998 by a large margin after the San Diego County Farm Bureau mounted a successful campaign to defeat it.
SOFAR claims that the County of San Diego “ committed numerous acts of illegal electioneering, and thereby, succeeding in killing the Rural Heritage and Watershed Initiative.”
NEXT WEEK: We’ll interview proponents and opponents of Prop. A.
Harrah’s Rincon Casino & Resort has begun construction of its new hotel, spa and parking garage in response to the overwhelming customer demand experienced since opening in 2002. Southern California’s only Las Vegas-style casino’s expansion will make Harrah’s Rincon hotel, at 658 rooms, including 102 suites, the largest in North County. It is designed to transform the facility into a full-service destination resort.
It will also offer a variety of exciting new amenities, supporting its goal of maximizing every guest’s experience, according to Janet Beronio, senior vice president and general manager.
“This will be our third expansion in just over a year of operation and we couldn’t be more thrilled that Southern California has shown such enthusiasm for having Harrah’s in its own backyard,” said Beronio. “Across the board, the Harrah’s brand has been associated with a superior gaming experience. So while planning for this expansion, we not only incorporated the best in gaming amenities, but added other aspects that enhance our guests’ overall experience.”
The expansion is scheduled to open in December 2004 and is expected to bring 350 additional jobs to Southern California.
“Because the hotel has achieved almost full capacity since its debut, adding rooms for our out-of-town guests was an important focus of this expansion,” according to Beronio. “The addition of a high rise structure adds over 450 rooms to the hotel, essentially tripling the current size.”
“This expansion marks another milestone for the Rincon tribe,” said John Currier, Rincon Tribal Chairman. “We knew from the onset that Harrah’s was the absolute best partner for us. Their expertise in casino management has benefited us in many ways, including better education, healthcare, and basic infrastructure services for our people. We look forward to what this new chapter will bring.”
Last week the County Television Network filmed a segment in which fire survivor Kathy Hayden, whose home on Sierra Verde burned in the Paradise Fire, spoke about her loss.
She talked about how the County responded to their needs and how the community reached out to her and her husband of 50 years, Page. They built the home in 1987. It took three years to build and burned down in 10 hours. They have a trailer on the property and are rebuilding.
The 30-minute program will air on the County Television Network (CTN) at dates still to be determined. CTN is aired on Cox 19, Time Warner 22 and Adelphia 66.
The program’s title is After the Fires.
Supervisor Bill Horn hosted the program and interviewed four people.
Chief Mike Manchor of the De Luz Volunteer Fire Department shared how his 29-man force responded on their own and how they saved 11 homes and protected 12 others.
He shared how Supervisor Horn’s grants of $240,000 enabled his department to buy nine used fire engines. He spoke about how valuable smaller fire fighting vehicles (F-450 type trucks) are and how they were the only department to use Fire Barrier Gel to attack and beat the fire.
The gel was made possible with a 2003 grant from District 5. Chief Manchor figured that his department used $1600 worth of Barricade Gel and $200 in fuel and saved homes valued at more than $4 million.
Chief Karl Bauer of the Palomar Mountain Volunteer Fire Department spoke about the importance of brush clearance, the need for fire-fighting aircraft and re-opening fire roads that have been closed because of pressure from environmentalists.
Chandra Waller, Assistant Director for County Public Works talked about the Local Assistance Center that was set up in Valley Center—and the speed with which the trailers went up and how they were equipped. Huge kudos go to SDG & E and SBC. She spoke about erosion control measures, the fast-track procedures for fire victims getting building permits, and how the community responded.
The Valley Roadrunner
P.O.B. 1529, Valley Center, CA 92082
Tel. 760.749.1112 Fax 760.749.1688
Website: www.valleycenter.com
Email: editor@valleycenter.com
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