Foothills Sentry Page 4 FEBRUARY 2025 Circulation … 40,000 Published on the last Tuesday of each month and distributed to residences, businesses, libraries and civic centers. Printing by Advantage, Inc. 714-532-4406 Fax: 714-532-6755 foothillssentry.com 1107 E. Chapman Ave., #207 Orange, CA 92866 ©Foothills Sentry 2025 Publisher/Editor Anita Bennyhoff 1969-2013 Editor Tina Richards editor@foothillssentry.com Sports Editor Cliff Robbins sportseditor@att.net Graphic Designer Jef Maddock graphics@foothillssentry.com Advertising Sales Andie Mills advertising@foothillssentry.com 714-926-9299 Office Manager Kathy Eidson officemanager@foothillssentry.com Where there's smoke Dear Editor: We were all deeply horrified by the news of the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles. The stories of residents trapped in bumper-to-bumper traffic, forced to abandon their cars and flee for safety, were heartbreaking. The destruction left in the wake of these fires—lives lost and thousands of homes and businesses destroyed—is a tragedy that we must learn from. As a resident of Santiago Hills in Orange, I have vivid, traumatic memories of the Canyon Fire in 2017. Our neighborhood was evacuated, and my husband and I gathered a few belongings, along with our infant son, and tried to leave. Traffic was at a standstill as a DC-10 air tanker dropped fire retardant just a few hundred yards from our cars, while flames, driven by the Santa Ana winds, approached Peters Canyon. We were fortunate to evacuate safely, and the firefighters were able to save Santiago Hills. Now, the area burned by the Canyon Fire 2 is where The Irvine Company plans to build the Orange Heights community -- 1,180 multi-million-dollar homes packed into 400 acres of currently open space. I urge you to imagine what might happen in the event of another wildfire, with a mandatory evacuation of our neighborhood, now including all these new homes. Thousands of added residents, all trying to evacuate south on Jamboree. It would be a life-threatening situation. How could we escape in a timely manner to avoid the flames? It is reckless and irresponsible for The Irvine Company to build in such a high-risk fire zone. We must act now, as a community, to prepare for the inevitable future wildfire. It’s not a matter of if, but when, the fires will come again. The recent fires in Los Angeles remind us of the urgency to act. We should learn from the devastation, and apply these lessons locally. For the safety of our community, I strongly believe that these homes should not be built. Instead, the land should be preserved as a wildlife corridor between the Santa Ana Mountains and Peters Canyon, protecting vital open space and offering protection for wildlife and our neighborhood. Thank you for your attention to this pressing issue. Kimberly DeLehman Orange Dear Editor: I live across the street from Peters Canyon Regional Park in Orange. I also lived here during the 2017 fires that almost burned my condominium complex down. The fires were raging through Peters Canyon, and ready to jump across the street (about 200 feet), which would have set my condo complex on fire. We were evacuated. With all the vehicles and people trying to leave at the same time, there were tremendous traffic jams trying to get out. I was worried the fire would overtake us. If that had been the case, we would not have had much of an escape route. If Orange Heights is built, there will be many more people and vehicles trying to escape, which would make the traffic congestion so much worse. I imagine it would be virtually impossible to escape. As bad as it was where I live, it would be much, much worse in the Orange Heights housing area, due to the fact that it is in a corridor where the fire will surely travel. As it turned out, the wind shifted at the last minute and the fire did not jump the street, so our condos were safe. That would not be the case for the to-be-developed area of Orange Heights. I am thoroughly against any such development for the safety of the people and structures in this area. Since these fires occur in this area approximately every seven to 12 years, why anybody would want to live in a virtually guaranteed fire area is beyond me. I surely wouldn’t want to be burned out and have to rebuild my house once a decade. Steffan Miller Orange Dear Editor: I was in Huntington Beach on a clear, sunny day in 2017, when I received an urgent call from my neighbor—fire was fast approaching our East Orange neighborhood. I rushed up the 261-Toll Road, and as I exited in the middle of the proposed Orange Heights development, a wall of flames was coming at me. In a matter of minutes, the entire Orange Heights area would be burned. A deputy sheriff directed me to turn back down the toll road. When I exited the toll road, I became ensnared in total traffic gridlock. For over an hour, I inched along what should have taken me five minutes, praying fervently that the flames would not overtake us. This was the 2017 Canyon Fire 2. If Orange Heights had been developed, 1,180 homes would have burned, and an additional 2,000 cars could have been added to the gridlock. If it had been a severe Santa Ana winds event, sparks could have ignited houses on the evacuation route. The Orange Heights development was approved many years ago. Regulations and the climate have both changed since that time. In the current moment, it is hotter and drier and these areas are highly likely to burn in the coming years. Please, no Orange Heights. The risks are simply too great. Vicki Hernandez Orange Dear Editor: The fires raging through Los Angeles are a terrifying reminder. When our city decision makers consider where to build new houses, they absolutely must account for the ever-increasing wildfire risks Southern California is facing. The proposed Orange Heights development at the edge of East Orange is in a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone. In fact, this exact property already burned once, less than 10 years ago. The 2017 Canyon Fire 2 destroyed or damaged 75 structures and caused nearly $39 million in property loss. The area is already burdened by severe traffic congestion. Evacuees from past fires have experienced hours-long traffic jams as they tried to flee. Adding a thousand more families would make evacuation in the next wildfire even more risky. A recent court decision has paused the Orange Heights development – for now. I urge our city leaders to reconsider the project and find a more suitable location to build these houses. Given our emerging understanding of increasing wildfire frequency and size, the proposed site is simply too risky to develop. JohnHill Orange Dear Editor: The proposed Orange Heights development of 1,180 homes between Irvine Regional Park and Peters Canyon Regional Park is in a high fire severity zone. Multiple fires have burned on, or close, to this location. The project’s 2005 Environmental Impact Report is outdated and does not address current fire risks. The State of California recently updated its wildfire regulations for the wildland-urban interface. The project should be analyzed under those new regulations. History has shown that development in wildfire-prone areas increases ignition risk. Studies show that approximately 97% of wildfires have been caused by people, including fire from power lines, car sparks and fireworks, as well as from arson. Rapid winds also quickly spread wildfire. The recent 2024 Airport Fire in the Santa Ana Mountains was accidentally ignited by OC Public Works during an excessive heat advisory. The fire burned almost 24,000 acres and displaced countless wildlife, which effected endangered and vulnerable species like the Least Bell’s Vireo and mountain lions. Mountain lions are “specially protected” in California following passage of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1990. Despite this designation, the 2005 EIR does not account for the development’s impact on mountain lions and other vulnerable species. The recent sighting of a mountain lion in Tustin, Uno, the pregnant mountain lion killed by a vehicular collision on Santiago Canyon Road last year, and the recent killing of a mountain lion in San Juan Capistrano from a vehicle collision, indicate a food shortage. One cause is from fires. Building near wildlands not only increases harm to wildlife, but also harm to humans. Climate change is producing such hazardous conditions as extended droughts and severe heat waves that have desiccated the region producing dry brush and grass fuel for fires. Building in wildfire-prone areas and near wildlands increases human-wildlife conflicts. Infill development and better land planning can increase safety for wildlife and humans. Shari Dalal Tustin Dear Editor: Orange Heights puts residents in harm’s way. In light of the catastrophic wildfires in LA and our similar wildfire history in Orange, the last thing we need to worry about is a new development of 1,180 single family homes irresponsibly located in a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone between Irvine Park and Peters Canyon. As we learned through personal experience, wildfire movement is dependent upon severe weather conditions, which allow fires to travel great distances with, or without, development buffers. In 2017, the Canyon Fire 2 traveled over multiple suburban neighborhoods from Anaheim Hills to Tustin, hopping fire breaks, roads and the 241. Over 9,215 acres were burned, including Irvine Regional Park, the Orange Heights proposed development site and Peters Canyon Regional Park. It destroyed 25 structures and damaged 55 others. In total, about 16,570 people were ordered to evacuate their homes in Anaheim, Orange and Tustin. Suppression costs exceeded $13 million, and property loss was estimated at nearly $39 million. My friends just lost their house in a suburban neighborhood in Altadena that was "buffered" from the nearest undeveloped "brush" area by at least nine residential blocks and an irrigated turf park over a mile away. Why would we want to put an entirely new development in harm's way -- at the expense of new residents, current residents and wildlife? The beautiful biological corridor that connects Irvine Park and Peters Canyon at the rural gateway to the Santa Ana Mountains needs to be preserved as undeveloped open space, so when the next fire happens, no new residents are at risk of losing their property or their lives. Most of us appreciate the remaining undeveloped open space in the foothills of East Orange. We accept the risk that wildfires have always been a part of this landscape since before recorded history. The Irvine Company is exploiting us for profit. Their proposed development will leave us with significant long-term costs associated with wildfire response, police and public infrastructure maintenance, along with more traffic congestion and air, water, light and noise pollution. Urban sprawl increases wildfire ignitions and city budget deficits and threatens our safety and quality of life. Joel Robinson Orange Dear Editor: Fire is at the forefront of everyone’s minds these days. When I moved to California, I was terrified by wildfire, so I decided to understand how fire works here. What I’ve learned really opened my eyes as to how necessary and useful fire is in this landscape, and how it is so destructive now, largely because we haven’t practiced land management the way the native Californians did. Seeing the incredible loss and destruction from the Los Angeles fires, and hearing about the gridlock as people tried to flee as the flames advanced on their homes, really makes me wonder how Orange County land managers can justify approving the Orange Heights development. The site of the proposed project has burned before, and will inevitably burn again. People who move into those new houses would be at very high risk of losing their homes, and, possibly, their lives. The development also threatens people like me who already live nearby, and would have to evacuate along the same roads. As wildfire risks keep increasing, our city, county and state decision makers have to start making better decisions. M. Morelock Orange Dear Editor: My husband and I have lived in East Orange since 1984, a mile from Peters Canyon Regional Park. The Irvine Company’s plan to build 1,180 houses on the 400 acres between Irvine Park and Peters Canyon Park was conceived back in the early 2000s. Conditions have changed considerably since then, such that development of this land is now dangerous and fiscally irresponsible, endangering the homes and the financial stability of the City of Orange. We now have a much-increased wildfire risk in our foothills compared to when the development was first approved by the City of Orange. We lived in the area in 2017, when wildfire scorched the 400 acres considered for Orange Heights and burned Peters Canyon into a charred moonscape. We watched helicopters get water from Peters Canyon Lake and drop it on the fire where the Orange Heights development is proposed. We were evacuated from our home for half a day, as containment was unsure, and the fire could hop Canyon View, burn homes, and spread across Newport Avenue to more homes. It is unwise for The Irvine Company to build on the 400 acres that already burned in
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