SANTEE
In hopes of preventing future challenges like the ones faced by firefighters during a September fire in a Santee riverbed, the Santee City Council earlier this month approved $130,000 for the building of a firebreak.
City Manager Marlene Best proclaimed an emergency in asking the City Council to move quickly for a firebreak along the south property boundary of the western side of Mast Park where it abuts residences on Willowgrove Avenue, west of Carlton Hills Boulevard.
The firebreak will clear about 35 feet of dead vegetation and invasive trees from rear property lines across 2,300 feet and will allow easier access for firefighters near the San Diego River. There was already 15 feet of firebreak behind homes in the area, Santee Fire Capt. John Garlow explained, and so there will now be 50 feet of a break.