News of the Arroyo


Title:

Fire Departments Work to Prevent Catastrophe

Subtitle:

Date:

2007-06-28

Summary:

June 28, 2007 - The Pasadena Fire Department is making plans for the Fourth of July celebration in the Arroyo Seco as well as working to prevent brush fires there.

Author:

Eric Blodgett

Publication:

Pasadena Independent

Content:

The air is hot and dry, the ground is parched from lack of rain, and next week is the Fourth of July. Combine that with dense brush along the foothills that has not burned in quite some time and you’ve got a recipe for disaster that has set local fire fighting agencies on edge.

“We have an extremely volatile situation and we are extremely concerned,” said Pasadena Fire Chief Dennis Downs on Wednesday as his department along with members of the U.S. Forest Service and Sierra Madre Fire Chief Rich Snyder canvassed the Arroyo Seco spraying fire retardant Phos-Check 30 feet into the brush around the Rose Bowl.

Next Wednesday the Rose Bowl will host their annual Fourth of July celebrations and despite the dangerous conditions the fire department did sign-off on their fireworks display. But the department is more concerned about the tens of thousands of people who will be celebrating in the parking lots and parks surrounding the stadium and contemplating putting on their own light show.

“There is no such thing as safe and sane fireworks,” Downs said right before they demonstrated the power of an illegal M-80 firecracker confiscated in a raid last year. The power of the explosion turned a watermelon into mush and sent pieces of fruit dozens of feet in every direction. Downs said he had seen children without hands after the rockets exploded while still in their grasp.

Brush clearance began along the foothills in most communities several months ago, and now local agencies are trying to prevent what’s still in the ground from becoming fuel for an inferno. Snyder said that in the last week or so he had participated in Phos-Check spraying along Chantry Flats road, in Monrovia Canyon Park and in San Dimas Canyon.

Phos-Check is a fire retardant that has been around for 40 years. It can be dropped from planes on burning fires or sprayed on brush to prevent fuel from igniting. While the type of phos-check dropped from planes is usually reddish in color, the substance the product being sprayed around the Rose Bowl and other areas is clear. It is made of phosphates and fertilizer and will stay in place until the first rain.

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