County Fire And Water Departments Say They Have Good News For Malibu Victims – All Houses Likely To Get Sufficient Water For rebuild

Good news for Malibu families trying to rebuild their homes … according to the county fire and water departments.

The fire chief and waterworks boss appeared before the Malibu city council last night to say that the water pipes in almost all the city are too small … but are still big enough to meet the county’s tough water flow requirements.

Water system boss Mark Pestrella says most of the city is O.K.

NEWSCART 75031  PESTRELLA CCCC QQQ THIS IS GOOD NEWS

Currently there are nine water systems within the district impacted by the Woolsey fire these include Latigo Canyon, Winding Way, Point Dume, Posthead [EDITORS NOTE: this is presumably Portshead), Horizon, Lower Busch, Phillip, Trancas, and Encinal Canyon.

“And we have conducted an analysis of the water system in the area and found that — with the exception of the Encinal Canyon system — all systems that I mentioned their can meet the fire flow requirements of 1250 gallons per minute for one hour.

“This is good news.”

The problem area … lower Encinal Canyon.

17 houses that burned down there cannot be rebuilt under the current strict county water flow requirement of 12 hundred 50 gallons of water per minute.

Seven of those houses can’t even meet the lesser … state standard of 500 gallons per minute.

Pestrella says the county has moved the Encinal Canyon area back to the top list of projects … Phase 1-A of a 60 million dollar series of water projects planned for Malibu in the next four years.

NEWSCART 75032 PESTRELLA DDDD QQQ APPLAUSE FADEOUT.

Phase 1A is important because within the Woolsey fire area, including the lower Busch tank, Encinal Canyon interconnection with Las Virgenes Municipal Water District, Pacific Coast Highway water main creek crossings, and Pacific Coast Highway water main improvements from Zumirez Drive to Escondido Creek Beach Road, are all within it.

“The Encinal Canyon water system improvement project consists of three separate project and it is on the phase 1 priority project list.

“So what I am saying there is that we are moving Encinal Canyon up to highest priority.” [[[APPLAUSE FADEOUT]]]].

Phase 1A is important because within the Woolsey fire area, including the lower Busch tank, Encinal Canyon interconnection with Las Virgenes Municipal Water District, Pacific Coast Highway water main creek crossings, and Pacific Coast Highway water main improvements from Zumirez Drive to Escondido Creek Beach Road, are all within it.

“The Encinal Canyon water system improvement project consists of three separate project and it is on the phase 1 priority project list.

“So what I am saying there is that we are moving Encinal Canyon up to highest priority.” [[[APPLAUSE FADEOUT]]]].

Fire Chief Daryl Osby told the council it will take four years to construct the new tanks and pipes in Escondido Canyon.

Where does that leave people who want to rebuild now???

The fire chief:

NEWSCART 75027  OSBY BBB QQQ PRIOR TO THE FOUR YEARS

“His timeframe is up to four years to make the system optimal.

“But we are going to do in the interim is we are going to collaborate.

“Most likely those homes will not meet the current code prior to four years.

“But I believe that we can come up with something reasonable in the interim to allow permitting and rebuilding to occur prior to the four years.”

While applause came from most Encinal Canyon residents … others felt left high and dry.

Gayle Gibson Howard came forward to express frustration that she and her husband cannot complete their new house … in the Encinal Canyon water shortage zone.

NEWSCART 75028 GAYLE GIBSON HOWARD QQQQ AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE

“I want to just express how disappointed I am that everyone is trying to reduce the Woolsey Fire to an incident.

“This isn’t an incident, this is a disaster.

“Peoples lives have been destroyed.

“We need them able to rebuild their homes as quickly as possible.”

The waterworks guy says it will might take four years to get environmental permits and permission from the California Coastal Commission.

And that prompted city councilman Skylar Peak to look for a way to speed that up.

NEWSCART 75034 PEAK AAAA QQQ THEIR HOMES REBUILT QUICKER.

“Is there any way, is there any way — and maybe Reva or Christie could chime in on this — that we could get an emergency permit to go ahead and address the water system on Encinal?

“Because it seems to me that if there was a way to do that we could get it done quicker. And it would help our residents get in their homes, and get their homes rebuilt quicker.”

The county waterworks boss … Mark Pestrella .. agreed.

And he stressed to the city council that the 60 million dollars in planned water system projects will not mean water will be available at every house in the next fire.

NEWSCART 75029 PESTRELLA AAAA QQQ CERTAIN DURATION OF TIME

“It is important to know that a water system in itself is not again designed to fight wildfire or to suppress wildfire.

“It is designed to provide  that domestic water supply, and to fight a single structure fire in a neighborhood for a certain duration of time.”

And Pestrella said that’s exactly what happened … the water system performed as designed in the Woolsey Fire …

NEWSCART 75030 PESTRELLA BBBB  QQQ PRESSURE TO OUR TANKS.

“We had power throughout the system, we were on backup generators throughout the fire, and some of the portions of it we did have telemetry drop, but we just force-fed to the west end of the system throughout the fire, sort of blind if you will.

“We had some heroic activities by some of our staff who actually made their way to west end and stayed with the tanks to monitor what was happening up there.

“And to their credit — and to the credit of the system that we maintain — there was no loss of water to our tanks in the entire system.”

That of course is cold comfort to people who lost their homes when their water pipes went dry.

But Pestrella has been saying for years … in Malibu … to anyone who would listen … that the water system is not big enough to battle large wildfires … firetrucks or no firetrucks.

As for the water system improvements … the county is coming back with a new plan to spend 60 million on major supply improvements in Malibu.

Ratepayers have already paid into a special surcharge fund that raises 5 million dollars a year.

Projects that are at the top of the construction list include the Encinal Canyon water lines and tanks.

Also … a new pipe along P C H from Escondido Beach to Point Dume.

A replacement water tank on lower Busch Drive.

Replacements of the water mains where they cross creeks across Malibu.

it’s important to note that a similar  … earlier package of water system repairs and replacements was shot down by anti-growth advocates in Malibu and over the hill.

They said it was a backdoor effort to increase development. 

The final word on all this came from L A County fire chief Daryl Osby.

NEWSCART 75033 OSBY AAA :13 QQQ we’ll get it done.

“I just want to acknowledge your city manager.

“There’s not many days that go by that we don’t go by that we don’t get a text or a phone call or a banging on the  desk (saying) ‘where are you are on this?’

“So we understand the importance of this and working collaboratively we are going to get it done.”