A fire that destroyed three businesses early Thanksgiv-ing morning in the Harvest Farms center could have been much worse if it hadn’t rained that night, according to VC Fire Marshal George Lucia, who was poking around in the ashes Monday morning.
“The wet weather and high humidity helped,” said Lucia. “If this had happened a month ago we could have a had a whole new scenario and lost a lot more property.”
He pointed out that the fire burned very hot and very fast because of the stored fuels. He noted that it burned hottest in an area that had been used for welding and pointed to spots where metal beams burned and melted completely.
“That’s where the hottest part of the fire was,” he said, adding, “We’re kicking it through and trying to determine a cause. Right now we see nothing that raises red flags but we are investigating.”
As it was, the fire, which started just after midnight, burned Cubillo’s Towing, J.C. Automotive and J.B. Septic, along with shelving and storage for Tom Jabro, owner of the center.
Jabro, who was expecting insurance investigators to show up any minute when The Roadrunner interviewed him, commented that the damages, “could be half a million, or could be over that amount, and that’s just for what I own.”
He wouldn’t speculate on how much money the three businesses had lost.
The buildings were over 50 years old, according to Jabro, who added, “Somebody was lucky I recently cleared the property or the fire might have spread further. There was a big mess when I bought it.”
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Just after midnight on Thanksgiving morning VC Fire Dept. responded to a 911 call for fire in an outbuilding behind Jag’s Grill & Spirits and Casa Reveles in the Harvest Farms shopping center.
Units arrived to find a well-established structure fire in an outbuilding.
The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Sheriff’s bomb arson unit. San Diego Haz Mat was also on scene to contain the run-off from the fire area.
There were no injuries.
The VC Fire Protection District board wants a fire chief whose focus is on Valley Center, rather than one shared with other districts.
“We are going to have to find somewhere in our budget to make it happen. It has to happen,” Dan Thornton, newly elected president of the board, told The Roadrunner this week.
The board is in discussions with Cal Fire to provide such a chief, although because of the current state budgetary crisis, they might not get one for many months.
At its meeting the board approved a resolution of its desire to hire a fulltime chief on a one-year trial basis.
They could do this by either having Cal Fire provide a fulltime battalion chief or district chief. In either case this would cost the district between $200,000–$250,000 in additional salary.
It is a goal that the board has long cherished. “This is an achievable goal, but it doesn’t give us a whole lot of wriggle room,” commented Thornton at the November meeting.
“One of our concerns is someone who is going to be here five days a week, eight hours a day,” added director Weaver Simonsen.
At the November board meeting directors discussed the issue with Chief Mike Bratton, the Cal Fire officer in charge of the North County area that includes Valley Center, Lake Henshaw, Pauma Valley, Palomar Mountain and parts of San Marcos.
Currently without a permanent chief the fire board wants to alter the longtime relationship it had with Cal Fire, best characterized by Chief Kevin O’Leary, who stopped being VCFPD’s chief a year ago.
He was replaced by two new chiefs in rapid succession. neither stayed more than a few months.
Although very well-thought of by the board during his long tenure in VC, O’Leary spent perhaps a day out of the week at Valley Center, and was shared with other districts.
But to get the kind of attention it wants from its chief, VCFPD has to be prepared to find the extra money.
Thornton thinks that it is in the budget, although it will be very tight.
“It’s a gamble but it’s worth going forward on,” said Thornton.
“This is an experiment that we hope will work out for the future,” said Director Mel Schuler.
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Thornton was elected as board president, replacing Mel Schuler, who had been president for four years. He becomes vice president of the board.
Thornton had been the longtime board treasurer. That job will now be performed by Weaver Simonsen. Oliver Smith was elected secretary and Bill Palmer will be member at large.
The Valley Center Art Assn. held its Fall Open Art Show at the Valley Center Library. The winner of the Best of Show was David Miller, for his sculpture, “Polar Bear.”
The show was judged by well known painter and illustrator Stan Sowinski.
Besides Miller’s Best of Show, the following were the winners in all categories:
In the Acrylic/Oil category, Jim Honey took first place for his painting “Suzanne.” Second place went to Bryan Alexander for “October Gold.” Third place went to Patrick Conger for “Landscape II.” Honorable mentions were awarded to Frederick Prior for “Pink Chapeau” and Marika Hendricks for “Italian Street Fair.”
In the Watercolor category, first place went to Jim Honey for his painting “Apple Day.” Second place was awarded to Penny Blazej for "Pumpkin.” Third Place went to Penny Wills for “Autumn in Idaho.” Honorable mentions went to Jim Honey for “Ruby Begonia” and Penny Wills for “Go West.”
In the Pastel/Pencil category, first place was awarded to Edith Jordan for “Rosarito.” Second Place to Shannon Sykes for “Ice World.” Third Place to Linda Evans for “Hike to Daley Ranch,” and honorable mentions went to Edith Jordan for “Patio” and Shannon Sykes for “Under the Apricot Tree.”
In the Photography category, first place was awarded to Loretta Villemez for “Melrose Ranch.” Second went to Loretta Villemez for “Rain Clouds at Sunset.” Third went to Penny Blazej for “Autumn.”
In the Mixed Media category, First place went to Penny Wills for “Potpourri.” Second went to Don Schloat for “Singing Archangel.” Third went to Don Schloat for “Power of Emotion.”
In the Sculpture/Gourds category, first place was awarded to David Miller for “Polar Bear.” Second Place went to Jewell Nagel for “Kachina.” Third place went to Jewel Nagel for “Fading Dream.”
On Saturday of the show, Linda LaBrado conducted a “Painting on Rocks” class for grade school children. Students received art supplies to take home with them.
The class and art supplies were made possible through grant funds awarded to the Art Assn. from San Diego County Supervisor Bill Horn’s Community Funds.
If you are interested in joining the Valley Center Art Assn., call Kathy Hayden at 749-7589.
The new county Dept. of Planning & Land Use draft General Plan Update is now available (at www.sdcounty.ca.gov/dplu/gpupdate/draftgp.html) and the VC Planning Group may comment on it at its Dec. 8 meeting, Monday, 7 p.m. at VC Community Hall.
Chairman Oliver Smith is expected to make a few comments about the document, which is a detailed road map for development in Valley Center (and the rest of the county) for the next several decades.
The meeting will have a focus on reviewing the 404 page, 50MB plus document.
According to Smith, “It covers all of the areas we have been working on: zoning, roads, definitions of villages, and so on. Our responses need to be back to the county by January 16, so the planning group needs to vote on any recommendations in our January 12 meeting.
“Therefore, the GP Update Subcommittee and Circulation Subcommittee have been refocused to review the document in that timeframe and the entire group is being asked to help review the various parts of the document.”
Smith’s big concern is: “This document is shaping where Valley Center is going in the next twenty years and, in particular, what tools we have to effectively direct it in the way we want (i.e. like local road standards instead of draconian choices offered by DPW [The Dept. of Public Works]), not just what a faceless developer can roll through the county process.”
There will also be a report from planner Andy Washburn on the General Plan Update Subcommittee.
The last meeting of the GPU Subcommittee was Nov. 11, the day before the draft document was released.
According to Washburn, chairman of the subcommittee, “I think that everyone is still trying to digest the document, identify what’s important, and assess the impact on Valley Center. [Chairman] Oliver [Smith] indicated that at next Monday's meeting, we will organize to create our response to the County.”
Other reports include an update on the North Village Subcommittee and Circulation Sub Committee.
The public is invited to Monday’s meeting.
Some of the players in this month’s VC Community Theater production of Mr. Scrooge's Christmas tell The Roadrunner they remember having done it all before—at a much earlier time in their lives.
Take Joel Kooyers, for example, who plays the part of Scrooge’s long-suffering clerk, Bob Crachit. Kooyers says the last time he was in the play, he acted the part of Crachit’s ailing son, Tiny Tim.
And Marsi Carr, whose character attends a Christmas party thrown by Scrooge’s nephew, Freddie, notes, “I was Crachit’s daughter, Belinda, in a production in the Hollywood Hills, where I was raised. It’s been... well, it’s been awhile,” she said with a smile.
Neha Curtiss, who plays the title role, actually hopes his performance is not too memorable —at least not memorable in thesame way as the character he portrayed in VCCT’s summer 2008 production of Oliver! After seeing his character, Bill Sikes, attack another character onstage, Neha says his four young nieces would have nothing to do with him for several days.
Director, Charles Carr, assured Neha that Scrooge, while curmudgeonly at the outset, becomes one of literature’s most beloved personas after his personal epiphany.
Holly Flow, who plays the part of Freddie’s wife, has had her own personal epiphany of sorts. “It was during this play that it began to dawn on me that I used to have a life,” she said with a laugh. “And a pretty good one at that, you know, before kids came along. You slowly start to realize, ‘Hey, I’m doing OK. I have some of my own things and they don’t necessarily have to revolve around my children’s lives, and it feels great.’ ”
Flow’s new-found sense of freedom notwithstanding, she is still happy to share the experience of being in the play with her daughter, Vivianna. Vivianna has two parts in Mr. Scrooge’s Christmas: the young caroler who has the temerity to ask Scrooge for a donation and the “boy” Scrooge presses into buying a surprise Christmas goose.
Both the community-based activity, “A Country Christmas,” and the theatrical production, Mr. Scrooge's Christmas, take place Dec. 12-14 at Bates Nut Farm. Scrooge will be performed in-the-round in a large, cozy tent that will be brought in and decorated especially for the occasion. Only 200 tickets per performance will be sold. There will be an evening show at 7 p.m. Fri. Dec. 12 and 2 p.m. matinee and 6 p.m. evening performances Dec. 13 and 14.
Tickets are priced at $10. Check out www.vcct.org for tickets. The Website can accept MasterCard and Visa. Follow the link to buy tickets, print them at home and never leave home.
For more information contact event coordinator Kris McCarrick at kmccarrick@wildblue.net to learn more. Tickets are now on sale at Bates Nut Farm and The Desert Rose.
Residents were shocked last week to learn that Cal Fire is powerless to stop a “ceremonial fire” from taking place, even on a Red Flag alert day of high winds and low humidity.
Chief Mike Bratton this week provided The Roadrunner with the statutes that tie firefighters’ hands.
Public Resources Code (PRC) section 4103.5 defines a campfire as: “a fire which is used for cooking, personal warmth, lighting, ceremonial, or aesthetic purposes, including fires contained within outdoor fireplaces and enclosed stoves with flues or chimneys, etc.”
PRC section 4423.3 talks about campfires during period of suspension, restriction, or prohibition of burning:
“The use of a campfire is not restricted or prohibited by a proclamation issued or prohibited by a proclamation unless specifically restricted or prohibited in that or subsequent proclamation. If restricted by proclamation, campfires shall be confined to facilities constructed for that purpose, etc.”
Three weeks ago, Cal Fire had issued a “No Burn” proclamation for the established Red Flag weather/wind event for this period, but as evidenced above, cannot restrict “campfires” when they are confined to facilities constructed for that purpose.
Chief Bratton told The Roadrunner, “What Cal Fire attempts to do is that when we receive info that a party intends to hold a ‘campfire,’ in this case a ceremonial sweat lodge, we will visit them and give them a visual inspection and advice/education about the high fire danger in the area as well as how to burn as safely as possible.
“We will also use our burn permit form or campfire permit form as a part of the educational process, because the permit form has written information on fire safety info also and informs the party of their responsibility under the Health and Safety Code 13009 to not allow the fire to escape.”
He added, “In the case of the One Heart Sacred Community Sweatlodge, Essene Retreat located on Pamoosa Lane, Cal Fire field personnel have inspected the facility and have given this educational info and instruction to them. Specifically, they burn an amount of wood in either a below-ground pit or an above-ground barrel which is partially covered, in which to heat up some stones which they will then transfer to the sweat lodge and extinguish the fire.”
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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