By Stephen Magagnini | OBSERVER Editor-in-Chief
Julius “Joe” Cherry, Sacramento’s second Black fire chief, spent more than 30 years as a firefighter, retiring in 2007 after working his way up through the ranks. Cherry served as chief of the Sacramento Fire Department from May 2004 until his retirement in December 2006. As fire chief, he was responsible for more than 600 employees and managed a budget of $90 million. Cherry, 70, also has been a civil attorney for 33 years after attending night school and graduating from the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law. The Air Force veteran, who got his bachelor’s from Sacramento State in public administration, is CEO of Cherry Consulting Group, which provides advisory services on local government issues. He also has taught business law.
He discusses the L.A. fires and what’s next with The OBSERVER.
Q: What is your reaction to the fires?
A: I’m devastated. Incredulous. The natural disasters all across the country just continue to top the ones that came before. Whether or not it’s climate change, the sheer explosiveness and speed of the L.A. fires is apocalyptic. Pasadena Fire Chief Chad Augustin, one of my mentees at the Sacramento Fire Department, flew over the fire where thousands of homes have been lost and the neighboring community of Altadena was practically wiped off the map.
Q: Why did these fires erupt?
A: For years, we Californians would hold our breath through September, late October and sometimes early November to see if we’d made it through the Santa Ana winds. The general public thinks fire season is June-August because it’s so hot, but I have never seen winds like this, period. It’s unprecedented. What we now have are tornado- and hurricane-force winds in the midst of a fire. Nobody is putting that fire out.
Physics teaches us that fires burn uphill, but if you look at the wind, they were in theory coming out of the east, so look at all those homes lost near the ocean – this fire was burning downhill. It overcame nature and pushed all the way down to the oceans.
Q: Some people have questioned Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’ allocation of resources prior to the fire. What are your thoughts about the administration’s handling of this crisis?
A: People who politicize disasters for political gain in the midst of immeasurable suffering ought to be ashamed of themselves. All municipalities suffer cuts from time to time, be it fire, police, or other critical services. There is simply only so much money to go around and that is always going to be the case. However, to suggest that budget cuts made the difference in controlling this conflagration ignores reality.
The L.A. city and county firefighters have a reputation for being among the best in the world, but Mother Nature dealt California a hand that overwhelmed the system. Wind is the boss. End of story.
There will be plenty of after-action reports and investigations. This fire will be a case study for years to come, but now is not the time for conjecture and finger-pointing. Now is the time to come together to support those who are grieving.
Q: What is a takeaway from the fires that our readers should be aware of?
A: Everybody’s looking for something to blame. If you go back to land use planning, building and fire safety codes, traffic patterns, water infrastructure, the conditions for this fire have been building for the last 50-60 years. Natural disasters come with these risks that we Californians choose to live with.
The first words out of most people’s mouths are we’re going to rebuild – the government is talking about rebuilding; the victims are talking about rebuilding – but we have to figure out how to live with nature in a way that mitigates these disasters. In Sacramento we had a 10-year moratorium on building in the flood zone in Natomas while the levees were being built up. I worked during the flood of 1986 when Strawberry Manor flooded.
In L.A. we’ve built into the canyons, we built into the hills. I think it’s paradise – I love Los Angeles, I love Sacramento, I love California, I’m not going anywhere – but we must decide as a community – developers, politicians – that there’s risk in all of that. … Wherever we build can still burn, can still flood, can still be devastated by earthquakes.
Q: What are the risks in Sacramento?
A: We never thought about subdivisions burning. We use the term “urban wildlife interface,” and the American River Parkway from Discovery Park up the American River is what we see as a big urban wildlife fire risk. But nowadays if you have the right conditions with winds, you can wipe out a subdivision. The Santa Rosa and Paradise fires were the biggest fires we’ve ever seen, and now we’ve topped that. You can build up your firefighting force; you can use prudent fire-prevention type actions like certain kinds of fire-resistant plants. … Chaparral in L.A. turned into light fuel. All the houses that burned down have chimneys still standing because it’s brick.
I live in the Pocket. We’ve built up our levees, but if we have a 500-year rainstorm we will flood. I have flood and fire insurance. We’re careful about fireplace ashes and electrical ashes. But after that, Mother Nature will have its way.