A group of Angelenos work with government and CSUN on new ideas to make their fire-prone area safer.
in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, killing three people and destroying 1,643 homes and other structures near an area once known as a mecca for Hollywood Western movies and television shows. The Woolsey Fire raced through chaparral-covered canyons and destroyed houses all the way to the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu — and came within a half mile of the Chatsworth Lake Manor community.
“They need active community groups already in high-fire areas to be able to take action into their own hands,” O’Dea said. “Fire prevention is key for all of us.” Fire warning signs are posted on Box Canyon Road, near Chatsworth Lake Manor, photographed on August 5, 2022. Scott Murray, a soil conservation expert, right and Natale Zappia, director of the Institute for Sustainability at Cal State Northridge, during the tour at Chatsworth Lake Manor on Friday, September 16, 2022.
Their plans also include an educational component involving California State University Northridge faculty and students, who will map out slopes heavy with vegetation and study best practices that meet the state’s California Environmental Quality Act requirements. “One of the parts I’m bringing to this is the use of a plant that is growing in the community already, and is a member of a succulent-like family,” said Scott Murray, soil conservation expert and board vice president of the Fallbrook-based nonprofit Mission Resources Conservation District. He calls the succulent a “carbon, draw-down powerhouse plant, that can be grown as a vegetated fire break because it will not burn.
“Some of the fuel breaks have been neglected over the years and property owners are unable to maintain them, and local and state departments are behind in what they can accomplish as far as fire prevention is concerned,” O’Dea said.