Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Forest Fuel Removal Project done appropriately.....?

Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to go for a walk in the forest behind Cataline Elementary which is located on Blair Street.  The picture you see on the left is an example of, at least, 12 piles that look like the pic on the left.  When I raised this matter with the City's Fire Chief Randy Isfeld in July of this year, he indicated to me that there had been work on-going in this forest to remove forest fuels to prevent Interface Fires, similar to the ones we all saw in Kelowna in 2003 as this forest abuts several homes on 11th Avenue

Since then, nothing has been done.  I fail to understand why it takes months to resolve a problem like this.  Surely, there are records of who did the work and to tell that individual/group to correct this.  Now, it is true that there are cement barriers at access points to this forest but it would take only 1 homeless individual to light this pile for warmth for it to get out of control and force residents' to flee their homes unnecessarily. 

Also - this could be a "make-work" project for unemployed individuals in our community or even youth that have court-imposed community hours and make this forest a even better place to take our dogs or kids for walks/hikes

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