A View From My Chair 012225

A VIEW FROM MY CHAIR

by Mike Stafford, Chairman of the Board 2025
January 22, 2025

The Rams exited the NFL playoffs despite a valiant try at a comeback this past weekend. I was touched by the LAFD initials the Rams coaching staff wore during the playoffs honoring our LA firefighters and their valiant efforts fighting our local fires.

I remember another day when a wildfire was connected with a football game. It was October 20, 1991. I was watching on TV the San Francisco 49ers hosting the Detroit Lions at Candlestick Park. The game took place not long after the blaze erupted and the television cameras would cut periodically to the smoke in the distant with announcers sounding increasingly alarmed. One of the local newspaper columnists wrote years later, how all the fans in the lower section of the stadium were covered with ash from the fires as the smoke drifted over the stadium.

​The Oakland-Berkeley Hills Fire was the worst fire in California history at the time. I thought of that fire because of the talk about rebuilding in the Palisades and Eaton areas and lessons we need to learn to avoid future catastrophes. I looked up the report to see what was said back then and there were many similarities with that fire and ours.

Conflagration is a word you do not often hear but that is how the 1991 report starts, “A devastating conflagration occurred in the scenic hills of Oakland and Berkley, California on October 20, 1991.” I was at the Palisades Community meeting last week at Sinai Temple and one of the fire officials used the same term, calling Palisades a community conflagration. The Berkeley Hills burned 1600 acres, killed 25 people, and destroyed 2449 single-family homes and 437 apartments and condo units. 790 homes were gone in the first hour. Steep slopes, narrow roads, downed power lines, flying embers led residents to panic and abandon their vehicles.

​While hot temperatures were not an issue with the LA Fires, a prolonged period of drought, low relative humidity, and strong winds were common to both Oakland and LA., although in Northern California, in October, they were Diablo Winds not the Santa Anas.

​Interestingly, according to the report, nearly 90 per cent of large southern California wildfires happen during Santa Ana season September thru December. The LA fires started just one week after the traditional Santa Ana season.

A potential similarity is a previous smoldering fire not fully extinguished and reigniting from strong winds.  At the Sinai Temple meeting, one of the residents referred to a New Year’s Eve fire in the Palisades indicating she felt it was the cause of the January 7th blaze because it must have smoldered. In the Berkeley Fire, a small blaze started the day before when winds were calm and it was put out by a brush crew, but the next day it reignited. An LA fire official said at the meeting the New Year’s fire was fully extinguished and for it to have reignited would have been miraculous.

In Berkeley, communications during the early stages of the fire was not coordinated.  LA used a unified command system.  However, the private agency running the evacuation alert system caused confusion by sending at least one evacuation notice to everyone in LA County.

Water was a problem for the 1991 fires as well as for Palisades, especially.  In Berkeley, hydrant connector issues were a problem, power loss to the pumping stations were another issue. However, the report says “no water supply system might have been adequate for a wildfire of this magnitude.” In addition, the report points out “The entire system had been designed for normal operations.”

So what other lessons did we learn from Berkeley that we might hear again one day in a report on our LA fires? Some suggestions were cleaning brush, vegetation, using the yard as a fire break, using noncombustible roof coverings, no part of the house on poles or pilings. Others included, placing utilities underground, more water tanks in the hills, bigger pumping plants, backup systems including salt water systems, portable generator systems, widening escape routes, vegetation control programs, and fireresistant roofs.

One year after the Berkeley Fire, 30% of the residents chose not to move back and rebuild. The report mentions “Although the public determines acceptable levels of risk from fire in wildland areas lawmakers react to the perceived needs of constituents and enact the regulations controlling that level of risk.”

And there will sadly, but importantly, be memorials.  California Office of Emergency Services ​

BIZ NEWS OF THE WEEK

Google Aims for 500 million AI Users - The CEO wants Gemini to reach the goal by end of 2025. Google’s AI chatbot is trying to catch up with ChatGPT which rolled out in 2022. Investing.com

New Women’s Basketball League – It’s called Unrivaled and debuted last week. It’s not a rival to the WNBA. In fact, it’s to give some players a chance to play during the offseason and avoid going overseas. ESPN

Free Money From the IRA – Remember that tax rebate you were eligible for back in 2021 but didn’t claim?  If you really were eligible, the IRS will send you the money after all and, here’s the best part, you don’t have to do a thing. CNBC 

UCC UPDATE

UCC General Board - Meeting January 27 

CHAMBER HIGHLIGHTS
​Burbank
Chamber Mixer 
January 30 Claytivity Pottery Studio
5:30pm to 7:30pm 912 W. Isabel St. Burbank

Calabasas
Networking  Luncheon and  Workshop
NEW DATE - Thursday, January 23rd, 11:30am - 1:00pm
Cambria Hotel
Sponsor: Payani Media

North Valley
Multi-Chamber Breakfast 
8:00 AM - 9:00 AM
Join North Valley Regional Chamber, Granada Hills Chamber and
Chatsworth Porter Ranch Chamber for a networking breakfast

Sherman Oaks-Encino
Join us to network at our Monthly Mix & Mingle in person!
Tuesday, January 28th, 5:30pm
Location: Stretch Lab Encino, 17613 Ventura Blvd. Encino, CA 91316 
End your workday by making new connections and strengthening relationships with other business,
nonprofit, school, and community partners. 
Lite bites included.
Current members: $20
Future members and Past-due members: $30
Add $10 to above for registration after 1/27 and at-the-door.

Studio City
Studio City Chamber announces opening of new Artelice Patisserie location
12430 Ventura Blvd, Unit 100, Studio City, CA 91604.

Toluca Lake 
Shout out to Board Member Renee Clark for hosting a clothing drive for Eaton Canyon Fire victims.

West Valley-Warner Center 
New newsletter name – Valley Biz Connect ​​