Welcome back to the spring and summer season at the Big Bear Southwest Shore! If you have been reading the news and watching TV, you are well aware that this season comes with High Fire Danger. The recent fires in Camarillo, Glendale, and Banning are proof enough that the fire threat is real and is all around us. We certainly do not want a repeat of the Butler Fire from 2007.
Brush clearance in the Southwest Shore is always important, but is doubly important in hot, dry years like this one. Please clear the dry brush and pine needles around your cabin as soon as possible. The most recent guideline is 30-foot clearance around your cabin structures. The Forest Service has talked about increasing the size of the required perimeter for clearing around your cabin. We will let you know when we get any definitive new information.
We encourage you to work with your nearby cabin neighbors to make sure that common areas near your cabins are also cleared of dry brush. In past years we have had brush clearance projects for the Southwest Shore as a whole, and we may do that again this year. However, the most efficient, effective prevention is localized, consisting of a few concerned neighbors who band together to clear their adjoining cabin properties. Contact your neighbors and do your part to maintain our Southwest Shore area as the clean, safe, beautiful paradise that we all know and love.
Have a wonderful season in Big Bear.