PLATFORM : Expand Neighborhood Watch to Fire Watch

The trauma of dreams destroyed and lives shattered by wildfires is a recurring California nightmare.

Nothing can be done about the Santa Ana winds--an awesome force of nature--roaring across the California landscape, but something can be done to ensure that the chance of a fire being set by some demented person is significantly reduced.

Sadly, the chance of catching arsonists is very small. Most do their evil deeds without ever having to face punishment for their grievous crimes.

Given that, is there anything we can do?

Yes. Most California cities have Neighborhood Watch programs. Their mission is to keep burglars at bay, to watch over one another’s homes. In some communities, they even patrol neighborhood streets while in radio contact with the local police.

While Neighborhood Watch programs are not fail-safe, there is no doubt that they help to lower crime.

Why not extend the crime watch to include fire watch?

Just as the most active Neighborhood Watch programs operate in communities especially fearful of crime, fire watch programs would be an asset to neighborhoods of canyons and hillsides--literally thousands of communities in California.

The cost would be minimal. All that’s required is some identifying item of clothing, say a sweater or vest, binoculars and some two-way radios.

There would be some added cost in training citizen volunteers, but compared with the losses sustained in last week’s fires alone, such a program, by any reasonable logic, would be a bargain.

Would such a program eliminate further conflagrations?

No. But better to walk arm in arm on patrol to prevent a fire than to hug one another in tears after a fire has reaped its devastating toll.