Fresno uses courts to cut down on fire danger
Fire danger is growing in Fresno neighborhoods, but the city is using a legal mechanism to cut it down.
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Hundreds of empty lots around the city pose a significant fire danger because of what's growing -- often right next to residential neighborhoods.
Action News found what you might call a problem spot in southeast Fresno. You can see tumbleweeds collecting on the property and over here, there's high and dry brush up against the fence line to a home where people live. It's a serious fire danger, but the city is taking steps to clear it out.
Tall, dry brush blows in the breeze on a lazy Friday morning -- a familiar sight in Central Valley wildlands. But in this residential area -- inside Fresno city limits -- it's a problem. The same breeze could deliver a spark, and suddenly several homes would be in the line of fire.
"A lot of these vacant lots are adjacent to occupied homes and neighborhoods so there are a lot of people's lives affected if one of these lots go up," said Kevin Watkins of the city's community revitalization division.
The division's inspectors have looked at about 4,000 empty lots this year. More than 1,800 of them were deemed dangerous. Landowners get about three weeks to fix it before the city takes its next step.
"If we're too close to the Fourth of July or the situation's just too bad where it creates a hazard, then we go ahead and do the abatement," Watkins said.
Contractors had to clear out the brush at 91 lots. In three cases, the city had to go to court to get permission to break locks to get on the property. A central Fresno lot was one of them. Before the city took action, it was covered by dry grass.
Neighbors say fire destroyed the home that was once on the lot, and seeing the growing brush had them fearing a repeat.
"When you see that, what are you thinking?" an Action News reporter asked neighbor Tito Reyes.
"Fire," he said. "I get upset because the landowner doesn't take care of his property."
As for the southeast Fresno property, city workers tell Action News they sent out a notice to clear the brush last week, so the landowner is on the clock.
