S.D. County Supervisors Urge Residents to Retrofit for Fire Safety

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published March 26, 2008 at 5:40 AM PDT

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

The San Diego County Supervisors have agreed to look into low cost ways of supporting the volunteer fire agencies that protect the back country. They also endorsed legislation to give home owners a fi

The San Diego County Supervisors have agreed to look into low cost ways of supporting the volunteer fire agencies that protect the back country. They also endorsed legislation to give home owners a financial incentive to make fire safety improvements to their own properties. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

The Supervisors have steered clear of any mention of higher taxes to bolster fire protection resources in the county. Instead Supervisor Pam Slater supports a bill before the California Assembly. The measure would offer tax breaks of up to 15 percent to people who retrofit existing homes with non combustible materials.

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Slater: People in San Diego must realize that home defense begins at home. AB 1912 allows property owners to use their own hard earned tax dollars to make fire safety improvements and receive a tax credit.

County codes for new buildings require more fire resistant materials, but existing homes are not required to make changes.

New Fire Hazard maps defining areas most at risk of wildfire will be finalized in the summer and building codes on those areas could be affected.

Alison St John KPBS News.

Alison St John

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.