Stay, defend, or leave early wildfire policy has UC advocates

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A wildfire policy that has met with some success in Australia - in which trained homeowners stay and defend their own homes in the face of a wildfire - is not popular with California firefighters, but some UC experts believe it has a place in the Golden State.

According to a story in the San Jose Mercury-News today, the California Professional Firefighters have dubbed the program "Stay and Die."

When homeowners refuse to evacuate, firefighters use this scary tactic: "If they stay, we'll gather personal information from them, such as dental records, so we can identify them in the event we find their remains," the story quoted sheriff's department spokesman Sgt. Dan Campos.

But UC fire scientist Scott Stephens said that in populous California, the current system of mandatory evacuation is not sustainable.

"I don't know how you can continually move people out of harm's way and somehow think it's going to be sustainable," Stephens was quoted in the article. "It's just a nutty idea."

Stephens told reporter Bruce Newman that it's easy for homeowners to put out sparks that might land on or near their home.

"Then as the fire gets right on top of you, people go into their houses, and the houses provide very good shelter. When the fire passes, people would come out and patrol their areas and continue to put out those small fires," Stephens said.

Stephens told the reporter that losses in Australia dropped by 70 percent under the plan. "And that includes lives," he said. "In this state, we lose houses, we lose neighborhoods, we lose lives, then we come back, rebuild and do it again."

Newman also spoke to Faith Kearns, the associate director of the UC Berkeley-based fire center. She said that, even under mandatory evacuation, some people will stay.

"When there were 2,000 fires burning across the state last year, a lot of communities felt abandoned because there weren't enough firefighters to go around. Given the reality of what it takes to completely suppress all fires, there are going to be more and more people who want to stay and defend their homes. Because they feel it's not going to happen otherwise," Kearns was quoted.

In other UC- and fire-related news, the Contra Costa Times reported today that a car was engulfed in an arson fire across the street from UC President Mark Yudof's home in Oakland. A clear link between the car fire and Yudof has not been established, the story said.

UC part of "stay, defend or leave early" debate.