To the editor: Manjula Martin's excellent observations about the utter failure of California's firefighting policy struck a chord with me. We had a large conflagration in 2022 that destroyed about 20 homes in the space of two hours, overwhelming local and county firefighting resources.
The hillsides near my house, many of which are owned by homeowners associations (HOAs), are covered in invasive, dried black mustard, which any fire environmentalist knows is a wildfire accelerator.
Yet local officials treat the danger as a seasonal fire problem, with no accountability for these HOA fiefdoms and the baseless myth that a 100-foot “barrier” around a structure will somehow serve to protect it from a catastrophe.
It won't, and we'll learn that costly lesson again when the next wildfire hits, accelerated not by our native plants, but by invasive plants that exploit and overwhelm conventional firefighting techniques, and melt down the “no trespassing” signs. of the Homeowners Association that dot the hillsides. .
Michael J. Harley, Laguna Niguel
