By Mary O’KEEFE

This week I wrote an article about an upcoming meeting for CV Fire Safe Council taking place on Oct. 22. I want to mention it here as well because this is such an important community organization that I really want everyone to know about it. 

A bit of history:

In 2008-09, Kim Mattersteig lived on Olive Lane in La Crescenta. She kept looking at the mountains in the Angeles National Forest seeing the vegetation dry out. She knew that her neighbors in Briggs Terrace had only one way in and out, and knew the danger fire would bring to her neighborhood. Kim began talking to LA County Fire Dept. and law officials and decided the best thing to do was to hold an evacuation drill.

For those who know Kim, when she decides to do something nothing stops her and she knew the importance of having this drill. So on Aug. 1, 2009 a fire drill was held.

At the same time Roger Young, who lived not too far from Kim near the Angeles National Forest, was also worried about a possible wildfire catastrophe in the future. In that vein he founded the CV Fire Safe Council (CVFSC). 

At the time I was working for the LA Times Community News/Valley Sun newspaper. Not long before the drill was announced I had gone on a walk with the U.S. Forest Wildfire Service and with firefighters during an exercise. The vegetation we were walking on was very dry and the area we were hiking was very remote. You could just feel that this was a perfect storm for a wildfire. 

So when Kim contacted me to let me know what she was planning I jumped on the story immediately. Prior to the drill she planned I was at a meeting held by the CV Town Council and LA Sheriff’s Dept. – CV Station. That’s where I met Roger, who announced that he had started the CVFSC.

It amazed me how the community worked together. The CVTC worked with CVFSC and Kim as they planned the drill with members of LA County fire and sheriffs. 

The area of Briggs Terrace was focused on because locals had been given a warning – an unfortunate one – just a few years earlier of what would happen if a fire broke out in this area.

At the time I wrote:

The Briggs Terrace area comprises neighborhoods of narrow, winding roads beset with heavy vegetation. In 2007, a fire destroyed a home that was surrounded by trees and vegetation. While 15 fire units responded to the Shields Street home, there was confusion among residents about whether they would be evacuated.

“That was 15 units for one home; imagine if more homes were affected? Our Fire Safety Council has identified 500 homes in that area that are vulnerable,” said Roger Young, president of the fire council.

Neighbors in the Briggs Terrace area took the evacuation drill very seriously with many participating. And then, just a few weeks later, the Station Fire began. 

CV Weekly had not actually started publishing when the Station Fire began on Aug. 26, 2009 (our first printed paper was on Sept. 4) but we were ready and hit the ground running. Charly Shelton and I were at every press conference, from the first sign of smoke to the end. Robin Goldsworthy emailed hundreds of residents several times a day with updates. Roger Young, through CVFSC, was able to create a reverse 9-1-1 system. He kept residents up-to-date on everything that was happening including evacuations and where the fire was heading. 

Even after the Station Fire was contained, CVFSC was still active. It had outreach events on a variety of fire preparedness details including the important of having a generator, clean gutters and vegetation abatement. In fact, it organized volunteers to help clean up dried vegetation in Briggs Terrace. 

CVFSC works closely with local fire departments including the U.S. Forest Service and CalFire. Its members share information on the importance of being proactive regarding wildfires.

Now CVFSC has a new board and is starting to have outreach again to help residents get prepared for wildfires. An arm of CVFSC is CV Ready, which helps provide proactive measures for all sorts of emergencies including wind events, floods and earthquakes. 

I have been a board member of CVFSC and continue to be on the board. To be honest, at this point in my life I really have been looking to move away from organizations in order to spend more time with my grown kids and my grandkids. 

Also you know the line from “Raiders of the Lost Ark” where Indy says, “It’s not the years, honey. It’s the milage.” Well, I am here to tell you it’s the years and the milage. But CVFSC is so important I can’t see myself not being involved. 

During the January 2025 Eaton Fire, a friend sent me a photo of flames coming over the mountains above TJ Maxx in La Cañada Flintridge. Then the wind changed direction. Depending on the direction of the wind, that wildfire could have easily come toward our homes. We have seen what our neighbors in Pasadena and Altadena have endured and are going through during and after the Eaton Fire. We need to learn and be proactive because we know eventually we will be facing another wildfire, a flood and earthquake. 

The CVFSC is the grassroots effort that has strength through working with other fire safe councils. It is the organization that is hyperlocal and needs local community members to join. 

I am inviting everyone to the CVFSC meeting on Oct. 22 at 7 p.m. at St. Luke’s of the Mountains, in Sadler Hall, 2563 Foothill Blvd. 

Please come and see what CVFSC is all about and how you can get involved.

The National Weather Service has issued a wind advisory that begins today, Thursday, at 6 a.m. and ends on Friday at 8 p.m. In addition there is a Red Flag Warning in effect from today at 6 a.m. to Friday at 10 p.m.

According to NOAA, the Santa Ana winds are expected to have sporadic gusts from 30 to 35 mph. 

These are the first Santa Ana winds of the season, which means warmer temperatures. Local temps will be in the mid to high 80s through Saturday, with cooling to low 80s beginning on Sunday.

Rain is expected next week from Tuesday to Thursday.