Berkeley working to implement new fire mitigation rules, but cost issues remain

CBS News

29-05-2025

With temperatures expected to heat up, fire danger is top of mind in some Bay Area communities, especially in the Berkeley Hills, where there is a heated debate on how to best fireproof homes.
George Perez Velez has lived in the Berkeley Hills for 22 years. He said every year, he's complied with every rule to keep his home safe from the next big fire.
"We believe in fire mitigation," said George Perez Velez. "We believe and respect firefighters. We understand their job is hard, and we believe in having a shared responsibility for public safety. But when someone says this is allowed, this is not allowed, the kind of disconnect of what we're getting, it's not there."
Perez Velez is referring to the EMBER proposal which is in the process of being voted in by the Berkeley City Council. EMBER stands for Effective Mitigations for Berkeley Ember Resilience. It would require residents to clear anything flammable within 5 feet of homes, including trees and plants. Perez Velez feels the city didn't do enough to get feedback from the community and doesn't have a plan to pay for it.
"The assumption that a fixed-income person or retiree or anyone can pay out of pocket $5,000 to pay for a fire break for the city without creating a mitigation fund to help folks, it's quite disingenuous," he said.
Berkeley Councilmember Brent Blackaby said he hears the concerns of the residents in his district but has to weigh those concerns with how best to protect roughly 1,800 homes in the high fire severity zone.
"We know the next fire when it comes is going to start in the park and come over to the homes here," said Councilmember Brent Blackaby.
Blackaby said that with the state passing Proposition 4 last year, it will invest a billion dollars in fire prevention over the next 12 months. The city has also secured a million dollars from Cal Fire and is working on a transfer tax credit system to offset the costs.
"People know if we're going to do this right, we need to make it as easy as possible for as many people as possible to participate and financing it is a big part of that," Blackaby said.
But after seeing the devastation of the fires in Southern California, he felt the city needed to find a way to give firefighters a better chance to save homes.
"This is going to take some time," he said. "No one says instantaneously you need to have sort of everything fixed but it's a journey. It's a process. And it's time to start moving towards to process to achieve the safety that we need."
Perez Velez has started an organization called the Alliance for Practical Fire Solutions to find what he calls sensible new regulations.
"For 20 years we had fire inspections," he said. "For 20 years, they told us do this, do this, do this, and you're in compliance. Now all of a sudden, all that doesn't work."