San Diego cannot afford to wait until the next catastrophic fire to act. We must take immediate, proactive steps to remove the dead oak trees and clear dangerous brush from our canyons and natural parks of these known fire hazards. At the same time, we should be leveraging advanced technologies like drone mapping and thermal detection to identify high-risk areas with precision and speed.
This is about prevention, not reaction. With the tools available today, there is no excuse for inaction. Protecting our communities starts with smart, decisive leadership now.
Imagine a spark landing in one of San Diego’s canyons right now with dry, dead trees and thick, unmanaged brush instantly turning a small flame into a raging inferno racing toward homes in neighborhoods that border and sit in close proximity to these open spaces. That nightmare is not far-fetched. It is a far greater risk today because of the city’s bureaucracy and mismanagement of a critical public-safety issue.
The city’s own 2023 audit exposed a broken brush management system that has persisted for over a decade. At least 10 city departments manage land in high fire-risk zones, yet they operate in silos with no central control or oversight. There is no comprehensive list of all city-owned properties needing brush management, no proactive monitoring program, and no single authority ensuring consistent action.
Most departments handle brush and dead trees only reactively, waiting for residents to complain through the “Get It Done” website before doing anything. This fragmented, complaint-driven system creates inefficiencies, duplicated efforts in some areas, and dangerous gaps in others.
The audit laid out clear, practical recommendations to fix these problems, including stronger coordination, work plans and accountability measures. Yet most of those recommendations remain unimplemented.
San Diego has lived through the consequences of catastrophic wildfire before. In 2003, the Cedar Fire burned roughly 273,246 acres and remains one of the most destructive fires in California history. We know what happens when fuel loads in our canyons are ignored.
The current conditions are also a warning sign. This winter was record hot and dry, and California’s snowpack ended at just 18% of average, the second lowest on record.
For canyon-bordering communities, this means the city should be moving faster, not slower, on fuel reduction, dead-tree removal and coordinated brush management on public land. Brush management is not a minor maintenance issue, and the San Diego City Council should force action on the audit recommendations, such as better coordination between departments and regular public reports on how much brush and dead trees are actually being cleared.
The city must also embrace modern technology and tools to get ahead of the risk such as drone mapping. Drone mapping can play a critical role in identifying high fire-risk zones in canyons and natural parks by providing a fast, detailed aerial view of areas that are often difficult to access on foot.
Using advanced imaging like thermal and multispectral sensors, drones can detect dry vegetation, dead trees, heat anomalies and stressed plant life — all key indicators of potential fire fuel. Drones can also map terrain features such as steep slopes and wind corridors where fires are more likely to spread rapidly. This technology allows cities and fire agencies to move from reactive response to proactive prevention by pinpointing exactly where brush clearing, maintenance and early intervention are needed most.
San Diego cannot sit back and wait to become the next Palisades fire. That’s not a warning; it’s a looming reality if we fail to act. We know the risks, we see the dry canyons, and we understand what happens when leadership delays. It starts with aggressive brush management and the immediate removal of dead oak trees that are fueling these fire hazards.
Action is needed today, not tomorrow, not after the next emergency when it’s too late to prevent it.
Mark Powell is a former San Diego County Board of Education member and former reserve officer with the San Diego Police Department. He is a candidate for the San Diego City Council in District 6.
