On the Verge of a new OFFICIAL Fire Flow Policy

Please save Monday the 25th of March to attend the Malibu City Council Meeting at 6:30 p.m. Item # 1.E. on the Agenda is a “Presentation by Los Angeles County Public Works Director Mark Pestrella and Fire Chief Daryl Osby Regarding Fire Flow Capacity of Fire Rebuilds”.
I’m betting that we will finally have an “Official” rebuild friendly standard that most of those who lost their homes will be able to meet.
I’m also betting that a solution for the La Chusa Highlands/Lower Encinal area will still require some new, larger pipes.
A group of homeowners in the area have been working for the last several years towards a solution that would upgrade the water system in their area and allow two couples whose new homes plans have been stalled for the last ten years or so to finally build the homes they designed so long ago. One of the couples actually put in the whole foundation before they were stopped by the new Fire Flow rules. With the encouragement of District 29, they supplied engineering and design work at a private cost of over $300,000. This was to ensure that the new Water Tank and Pipes, sufficient to meet the new 1,250 GPM standard, would be one of the first projects to be constructed as part of the March 2016 plan for District 29.
They were crushed when the overall project was mothballed and crushed again when their neighborhood was removed from the replacement plan that was supposed to be presented in December of 2018.
The word is they are now back on the priority list.
The La Chusa Highlands have limped along on the same 3- and 4-inch water mains they have had since the water was first brought to the area sometime prior to 1962. There is no way to stuff even 500 Gallons per minute through a pipe that size.
I hope to be writing about a plan to replace those pipes and other examples of the City and County working together to “Win the Rebuild” in the coming weeks.