RV plan deemed unsafe

LAAG is going to have to call BS on the fire dept again. Lots of junk cars and huge RVs jammed in between single family homes is fine. Fireworks are fine. Nurseries and or dry brush under high power lines is fine. Homes backing up to powerlines are fine. But dont park an RV under them. Lets see this "study". Post it on the web. I know people who have lived right next to the powerlines since the early 1960's. Never had a fire. I think this is related to the LA Times story a few months back where a bunch of Pasadena residents got all fired up over this and so they likely leaned on the Fire Dept. to come up with a "study" (the folks in Pasadena actually partake in political activism unlike Lakewood residents). Again show us a fire anywhere in the state involving high power lines that was somehow made MORE unsafe for a firefighter due to an RV parked under them. Next they will say RV's cause the lines to fall. No intelligence or facts there folks. Just a parade of "what ifs". Sorta like the Bush administration before going into Iraq. Maybe the fire departments better stick to their roles as permanent heroes and get out of the politics business.


RV plan deemed unsafe
County Fire Dept. decision dooms right-of-way storage proposal.
By Karen Robes, Staff writer
Article Launched: 07/12/2007 09:32:17 PM PDT

LAKEWOOD - Los Angeles County Fire Department officials Thursday quashed efforts to develop a storage facility for 350 recreational vehicles on a utility right-of-way near Woodruff Avenue because the project posed an extreme fire hazard.

Fire Marshal Scott Poster sent city officials a new fire code regulation Thursday that now prohibits the construction of an RV and trailer storage facility beneath a transmission power line.

News of the new regulation crushes Lakewood's hopes of having 350 12-foot-wide by 40-foot-long RV spaces on the Southern California Edison right-of-way stretching from Allington Street to the Lakewood Community Gardens.

The project would have helped ease hundreds of RV owners' concerns about finding storage since new city laws took effect July 1.

Tired of the blight and traffic safety hazards posed by the oversized vehicles, residents voted in November to ban RV and trailer parking on city streets without a three-day permit.

"We thought we found a solution and we were of course disappointed when we heard from the Fire Department," Mayor Diane DuBois said. "But we have to abide by that."

The Fire Department decided to explore projects built underneath high-voltage transmission lines after Edison decided to lease out land to developers wanting to build self-storage, commercial buildings and projects other than light/agricultural, Poster said.

An official from Southern California Edison could not be reached for comment.

After conducting extensive research - which involved speaking with Edison consultants and assembling a power-line safety committee - Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman determined that firefighters and the public would be placed in unnecessary risks, including electrocution, if the high-voltage cables were to catch fire and land on a structure while a firefighter is putting out a blaze, Poster said.

"The dangers well exceeded the advantages," Poster said.

Also, power line failure could affect cities served by the cables, he added.

Despite the collapse of the 350-space project, residents may still see another storage facility being developed on Woodruff Avenue, just south of South Street.

Jim Isham, nine-year owner of Jim's Automotive on 5414 Woodruff Ave., has been working with the city to develop the property behind his business into an RV storage facility.

Isham, a Lakewood resident, said if his project is approved, his facility would provide 80 storage spaces and he would give priority to Lakewood residents.

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