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.
SANTEE
Santee residents and people living close to Mission Trails Regional Park in the city of San Diego near the Sycamore Landfill are concerned after receiving a letter from the county’s Air Pollution Control District about toxic air contaminants at the site.
The letter, dated Jan. 15, but not received by locals or the city until late February, said that based on air emission data collected in 2013, there is a potential health risk for those living near the landfill at 8514 Mast Blvd.
Studies of air matter are done every four years by the county, and based on data from 2013, which was approved by the pollution control group last October, some toxic air contaminants “may be increasing the cancer risks for people who live in the area.”