Three Years Following Cedar Fire, SD County is More Prepared

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published October 24, 2006 at 12:00 PM PDT

This story was published more than 18 years ago.

The Cedar Fire burned more than 270,000 acres in San Diego County three years ago Wednesday. Since that time, the city of San Diego has changed building codes and added firefighting equipment to preve

The Cedar Fire burned more than 270,000 acres in San Diego County three years ago Wednesday. Since that time, the city of San Diego has changed building codes and added firefighting equipment to prevent and fight future wildfires. KPBS Reporter Ed Joyce has more.

The Cedar Fire and two other fires killed 16 people and burned nearly 2,100 homes three years ago. More than 300 homes in the city of San Diego, most in Scripps Ranch, were destroyed. Nearly all of those homes have been rebuilt and the owners are now living in them. San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders says homes now built in areas prone to wildfires must meet new building codes.

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Sanders: That requires roofing that’s much safer and less likely to burn as well as new brush management and buffer zone regulations. Additionally, because of what we learned in the Cedar Fires, fire rescue now has an enhanced helicopter program – new high tech equipment that gives our firefighters more tools.

Fire officials wanted the city to require interior sprinklers and other building code changes. But the City Council only approved upgraded roof requirements and a brush management ordinance. Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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