r/LAFD • u/AdElectrical7487 • 20d ago
Fire mitigation in LA City open space parklands?
Our neighborhood is immediately adjacent to LA City open space parklands (Roscoe-Valley Circle Park). Unfortunately it does not appear that the Parks Dept is maintaining the brush within 100’ of homes. Is there an office in LAFD or possibly within Parks that can coordinate with our HOA to address mitigation efforts?
It would be great if they brought in some goats but not sure if that’s possible. Thanks in advance!
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u/LAFD 18d ago edited 18d ago
/u/AdElectrical7487 et al,
Our apologies for the delayed reply. Our staffing and workload have sadly precluded being active on reddit. We're doing our best as time and assigned tasks permit. We thank you for your patience and understanding.
Though you sound well versed on brush clearance issues in the City of Los Angeles, we'd like to first offer a brief overview with links for redditors who are not.
A wealth of information about hazardous vegetation management in the City of Los Angeles can be found here:
Laws involving brush clearance and hazardous vegetation management on parkland though, can vary greatly among State, County, Regional Agency or municipally owned property - and your LAFD and homeowners are restricted/obligated by such laws that many may find puzzling. MRCA Parks property is but one example of laws in place that can catch a homeowner off guard:
While they are statistically rare, there are similar nuances on some other government-owned properties.
That much offered...
Unless otherwise abolished or guided by the aforementioned laws, the requirements at the link below are typically applied to most properties in the City of Los Angeles, within the Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone:
For /u/AdElectrical7487, our suggestion...
Take pictures and make a simple drawing to put them in perspective. Then contact the City's Department of Recreation and Parks. If necessary, you can escalate your concerns to their Executive Management Team and if required, the Commission that oversees the agency. They have a lot going on, so please be polite and keep a dated copy of all correspondence. Since they are the one's that appear to manage the site - and will be the one's to clear the property as necessary or required, they are certainly your best first action. By assuring they are aware, it is hopeful that they will make note and ideally develop a system or work order for proactively managing that site as necessary in the years ahead.
You can also contact the LAFD Fire Prevention Bureaus 'Brush Clearance Unit:
...though with their lean staffing and utterly staggering workload, there may be a wait in line as their team is actively processing more than 140,000 parcels citywide.
Finally, should it become necessary, you can contact the office of your City Councilmember, which should be at this site that includes a contact form:
TIP: After submitting your concerns via the contact form, you may wish in a day or three to contact one of the Councilmember's Field Deputies at their District Office. They can be a fantastic resource. In a polite manner, explain the processes above that you have meticulously gone through, and seek their guidance or support in addressing the concern. The fact that you will be able to calmly explain that you've tried every resource you know and want their suggestion on resolution, will likely go a long way. While we hope you don't need to go to this length, if the Field Deputy makes magic happen, be sure to follow up with a signed letter of thanks via postal mail to the Councilmember, lauding their staff member(s).
That's about all I have at the moment. We hope this helps. Please let us know how it goes in a reply to this thread.
Respectfully Yours in Safety and Service,
Brian Humphrey Firefighter/Specialist Public Service Officer Los Angeles Fire Department