I agree that pine trees are not the best choice, especially since Southern California has a HUGE problem with the Pine Bark Beetle (It eats the trees and dries them out). Perhaps they should’ve thought about the fire risk before they were planted and made a better choice. Were the developers even thinking about how the property was consumed by the Harmony Grove fire? It looked like a moonscape for a couple of years afterward!

The two acres I grew up on in Vista had quite a few pine trees. My dad used to talk about them being tinder and one of my chores was to clean up the needles underneath. It was just a fact of life. After we started getting those dumb beetles and the trees started to die, my dad got out his chainsaw and cut them down. He made sure to do this on an overcast morning and would never think of doing it on a hot, dry day.

I do think that the lady is being a total snob about the view. So what – she’ll miss her tiny little sliver of ocean view????!!! Big deal! Trees do grow! Just go to the beach and get the full effect of the ocean view at the beach!!!!!

One thing my husband and I agree on is that we would not want to be in SEH with a fire approaching. Imagine trying to evacuate all of those people out through San Elijo Road to the west or Harmony Grove road to the east! It would be a nightmare! Even when Twin Oaks goes through in the northern part, it still would be hard to evacuate.

I’ll never forget watching the Harmony Grove fire from San Marcos (off of via Vera Cruz while waiting to find out if our relatives home needed to be evacuated). It moved so incredibly fast. You can still the line in the trees where the fire stopped in the hills above (to the South east) Lake San Marcos.

Maybe that lady should get a chainsaw and just cut the trees down herself. If she does it when the neighbors aren’t home, who would know?