Shelter in place may be town's only fire option

L.A. County Fire is planning an order for Topanga if evacuating isn't a viable choice.

- NOAH HAGGERTY

A HELICOPTER drops water on a fire threatening a home Jan. 9 in Topanga Canyon, where residents live along winding mountain roads.

Photographs by GENARO MOLINA Los Angeles Times

Dozens of Topanga residents gathered in the town’s Community House to hear Assistant Fire Chief Drew Smith discuss how the Los Angeles County Fire Department plans to keep Topangans alive in a fierce firestorm.

In the redbrick atrium, adorned with exposed wood and a gothic chandelier, Smith explained that if a fire explodes next to the town and flames will reach homes within minutes, orchestrating a multi-hour evacuation through winding mountain roads for Topanga’s more than 8,000 residents will just not be a viable option. In such cases, Smith told attendees at the town’s Oct. 4 ReadyFest wildfire preparedness event, the department now plans to order residents to shelter in their homes.

“Your structure may catch on fire,” Smith said. “You're going to have religious moments, I guarantee it. But that’s your safest option.”

Wildfire emergency response leaders and experts have described such an approach as troubling and point to Australia as an example: After the nation adopted a similar policy, a series of brush fires in 2009 now known as Black Saturday killed 173 people, many sheltering in their homes.

Some in Topanga, a bohemian community of nature lovers, creatives and free spirits — who often pride themselves on their rugged, risky lifestyle navigating floods, mudslides, wildfires and the road closures and power outages they entail — are left with the sinking realization that the wildfire risk may be too big to bear.

They see the shelter-in-place approach as a perilous wager, with no comprehensive plan to help residents harden their homes against fire and no clear, fire-tested guidance on what residents should do if they’re stuck in a burning home.