SMCCA Joins Wildfire Conversation at Annual Meeting

By CHRISTIAN MONTERROSA | Reporter

The Santa Monica Canyon Civic Association held its annual meeting at Rustic Canyon Recreation Center on Tuesday, May 14. 

Close to 50 residents gathered in the newly remodeled gym to hear Deputy Fire Chief Armando Hogan from the Los Angeles Fire Department speak, as well as Councilmember Mike Bonin, who provided updates on local projects—both completed and upcoming. 

For Hogan, it was his latest stop on a community-wide tour to raise awareness for wildfire safety in the Palisades and surrounding areas. 

The deputy chief stressed the main talking points in wildfire preparedness, including having a “go bag” ready, enrolling in a local Community Emergency Response Training program and having a plan of action before any disaster strikes.

After going over the plan for the evacuation practice exercise that took place on May 19, Hogan elaborated on the next steps of doing a similar drill in the Palisades.

“This is going to be one of many because I’d love to be here in Rustic Canyon and get ready to do another evacuation exercise,” Hogan said. When asked if it was too late for an evacuation drill this year, Hogan said there was no such thing as “too late.”

“I hate to say this, but fire season for me is year round, so it’s never too late, it’s just a matter of us organizing it,” he said. “Because what we have to do collectively is determine what we want to get out of an exercise or drill.”

Councilmember Bonin then ran off a list of recent accomplishments in the area, including the repaving of Chautauqua Boulevard, fixing traffic lights and an effort to bring more resources to first responders in the area. 

“When I came into office, my top priority was restoring some of the fire department resources,” Bonin said. “We have now brought back, just in the westside, over $63 million in additional resources.”

He mentioned his desire to grow the tree canopy throughout Los Angeles and upgrading the technology used by police officers. 

Residents were also given a chance to ask Bonin any questions or raise concerns over new issues, like illegal leaf blower noise and the degradation of the street on lower Ocean Avenue. 

Bonin assured the crowd his staff would look into it.