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Fire Safe Council's preventive measures save homes

Ridgecrest Estates is like many residential areas around Fallbrook. It is located northeast of downtown, north of East Mission Road. The total area is approximately 125 acres spread over a series of ridges and gullies. Eighty homes are located along the ridges. The main access is Macadamia Drive, which runs north from East Mission. Side roads extend along the ridges. In the northern portion, the lots are two-plus acres and most have avocado groves, which extend into the gullies. Other gullies contain brush.

Immediately north of Ridgecrest were 50-plus acres of eight- to 10-foot heavy brush that North County Fire Protection District (NCFPD) studies show has not burned or been cleared for at least 60 years. NCFPD classified the area as “extreme high risk.”

The Fallbrook Fire Safe Council (FFSC) had been working over the past year to obtain grant funds with the hope of building firebreaks around the high-risk areas of the Santa Margarita Valley. In September, with funds supplied by Supervisor Bill Horn and the Bureau of Land Management, they cleared a 50- to 70-foot firebreak along an FPUD service road that follows the northern property lines of Ridgecrest and intersects Willow Glen Road to the east. This firebreak gave firefighters the edge when the Rice Canyon Fire raged through the area.

At 2 a.m. on October 24, Ridgecrest resident Charles Hull was sitting in his pickup truck at the end of Macadamia watching the flames devour Red Mountain. The flames moved to the north along Willow Glen and crossed the road just north of the service road. It moved through several gullies, progressing westward along the service road. Prior to reaching the area of the firebreak, it crossed the service road and entered several groves on the east side of Ridgecrest. These areas were quickly contained by firefighters.

Mr. Hull said that by this time the fire was in the 50 acres with flames 70 feet high. Eucalyptus trees and the wood barriers at the end of Macadamia began to burn. The nearest residence was less than 100 feet away on the west side of Macadamia. The heat was so intense that Mr. Hull had to retreat up Macadamia. He saw that the grove that abutted Macadamia on the east was ablaze. As he started to go for help, a firefighter appeared in a pickup truck, saw the situation and immediately called in a tanker truck with three firefighters. They had the fire out in just a few minutes. This grove and an outbuilding were lost but the fire was stopped just yards from the home.

Mr. Hull said the most menacing flames were in the heavy brush north of the service road but the flames in the firebreak were much less severe. The firebreak afforded firefighters the chance to knock down flames that crossed the road before they reached the homes and groves to the immediate west of Macadamia. The fire continued west past the homes in Ridgecrest but did burn several groves on the western perimeter of Ridgecrest as it moved south up a canyon after passing the western end of the firebreak.

Many of the residents of Ridgecrest have expressed gratitude for the foresightedness of NCFPD and the efforts of the FFSC in building the property-saving firebreak. They are convinced that the firebreak and the efforts of the firefighters on the lines saved Ridgecrest from a major disaster.

 

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