Gun Club & Forest Fires

[azhere]

The San Gabriel Valley Gun Club is being investigated for what LA County Fire inspectors called illegal ammunition that allegedly sparked a fire on Friday, September 8, 2006. The fire started in the afternoon at the Gun Club, and took 3 helicopters, 2 aircraft, 100 firemen and resources from Duarte, Azusa and Baldwin Park to bring under control. 6 acres of our precious Angeles National Forest were burnt away. Hundreds of Azusa and Duarte homes could have easily been threatened had Mother Nature decided to shift winds in another direction on that day. This does not appear to be the first time Gun Club activity has sparked a fire in the forest.

According to LA County Fire Department records the following dates and report numbers show (provided by LACOFD public records) when they have had to respond to a report of a fire for 4001 Fish Canyon Road, Duarte, CA 91010-1699 - the Gun Club's street address:

Fire Reports:
2006, Sept 8th – report # 194907
2005, Aug 4th. – report # 165783
2004, Jan 27th – report # 0019095
(And two days earlier)
2004, Jan 25th – report # 0017771
2002, Oct 13th – report # 0208064

ALSO, the Fire Department keeps track of what they call "smoke scares". This is where someone reports seeing smoke but by the time the Fire Dept gets there, the fire is out:

Smoke Scares:
2005, Jan 22nd – report #17267 and 17287 (two reports filed)
2003, May 23rd – report # 0103196

(Note: to request copies of these reports you can contact LA County Fire Department at [phone] or Los Angeles County Fire Dept., Public Records Office, 5815 Rickenbacker Rd., Commerce, CA 90040)

WHEN WILL ONE OF THESE FIRES CATCH A WIND AND HARM PEOPLE AND/OR MORE FOREST? This information comes at a time when the Gun Club is asking the City of Azusa for an additional 15 month extension on top of their existing 18 month extension the City has already allowed. While the City considers this extension request, there must be discussion of the fire threat posed by the Gun Club and the safety and concerns of the citizenry must be included in the Azusa City Council’s decision making process.

This threat, an open firing range on edge of the Angeles National Forest and within a few hundred yards of hundreds of established, long time homes in Azusa and Duarte, poses many resident concerns.

RESIDENT CONCERNS:
·Residents are concerned that the Azusa City Council addresses the safety of their families with regard to the unusual amount of forest fire activity located at the Gun Club facility
·Residents are concerned about their homes burning down
·Residents are concerned that local and regional use of the hiking and biking trails around the Gun Club are endangered
·Residents are concerned that their insurance rates will be raised due to the volatile and unpredictable nature of an outdoor shooting range located at the base of the heavily forested and extremely dry Angeles National Forest
·Residents are concerned that insurance companies may eliminate Fire insurance as a possibility as long as the Gun Club still operates its current location
·Residents are concerned their taxpayer money was spent fighting this and past fires, that according to LA County Fire Inspectors, were allegedly caused through negligence from the Gun Club
·Residents are concerned about alleged illegal activities going on at the Gun Club such as the use of illegal ammunition as cited by the LA County Fire Department and past investigations with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms regarding the alleged on-site sale of weapons (illegal for a non-profit club), and alleged tax evasion violation investigations by the California Franchise Tax Board.
·Residents are concerned about environmental damage caused by years and years of spent lead bullets seeping into the ground next to the San Gabriel River

Despite the City’s flexibility within Development Code rules, the Gun Club still has not met the City’s request to provide proof of the alleged agreement they have with the Burro Canyon shooting range as of the last City Council meeting (September 5, 2006). They effectively have done nothing over the past 18 months despite the City’s goodwill efforts.

City Council Contacts, if interested:
Diane Chagnon: [e-mail] (Mayor)
Joe Rocha: [e-mail] (Council Member)
Keith Hanks: [e-mail] (Council Member)
Dave Hardison: [e-mail] (Council Member)
Angel Carrillo: [e-mail] (Council Member)
Fran Delach: [e-mail] (City Manager)
City of Azusa: 812-5200

[felixzecat]

just heard throught the grapevine....

The request for an extension of the gun club was not even voted on at yesterday's city council meeting. It has therefore expired. From what I was told, the gun club refused to sign the settlement agreement that the city made. The gun club also did not bring the information that was requested by the city council. It does not sound like the gun club was serious about working cooperatively with the city to move.

I wonder if they really do plan on moving to Burro Canyon as they promised they would in the previous meeting?

[red]

www.sgvtribune.com/news/ci_4371862

City orders gun club to close
By Bethania Palma Staff Writer

AZUSA - Time has run out for the San Gabriel Valley Gun Club.

The Azusa City Council will issue the club official notice Monday that it will no longer be authorized to use the property at 4001 Fish Canyon Road as a shooting range.

"We anticipate that they will probably continue to operate and possibly sue the city," Assistant City Manager Robert Person said. "They can challenge it legally and keep operating, or they can get our letter and cease and desist their use and close it down."

Representatives from the gun club did not return phone calls.

Person said the city gave the club requirements that would allow them to operate until Dec. 31, 2007, at the current location near the San Gabriel River along the border with Duarte. The council on Monday rescinded the settlement offer, Person said.

"They \ did not provide what was asked of them, so the settlement agreement was taken off the table," Person said.

He said the requirements included providing reclamation plans and a timeline demonstrating the club's plans to relocate to Burro Canyon in the Angeles National Forest, about 15miles northeast of its current location

Please go to story to read the rest....
www.sgvtribune.com/news/ci_4371862

[circamc]

So they might sue the city? I guess they could use the fact that the city approved the building of MC in the first place, and was negligent in placing homes in proximity to a firing range. If I were a lawyer I would certainly make that point.

[SURGINB]

Circamc ,
Quit blaming the MC, you are being duped by the city and the media into thinking that the MC was the driving force behind the gun clubs demise. As much as some people want to take credit, it wasn’t the MC. The MC is wrongly being made to look like they brought the complaints to the city council. But actually the city approached homeowners and told them they were rezoning the area and if the MC was in support. Some people support it, some don’t, and some just don’t care. And yes everyone was aware it was there. Bottom line, the Gun Club"(NOT A BUSINESS A CLUB) leases the land, not owns it, and their lease up. They have been rezoned the area and they no longer qualify to operate. They are hazard on many levels and progress marches on. Backwards thinking that nothing is ever to change in this town has held this town back long enough. Just as the trout at Happy Jacks, the Azusa drive-in, the cows, buffalos and the dairy are gone, so will the gun club. And don’t be too shocked if when the Rosedale project is completed Rancho Market and the Riveria Apartments are also gone also. That’s life, things change next subject move on.

[athena]

Dear Circamc

The truth is the gun club does not fit into the city as it now stands, period. The city of Azusa is growing and changing just like all other surrounding cities and it's to the benefit of it's residents not just those who come use our city as their personal playground. There are no other gun clubs in surrounding cities for a reason. They don't belong in populated areas because they are dangerous.

Also, the gun club never had legal grounds to sue and they still don't. Vulcan gave them an eviction notice that still stands and they will require the gun club to clean up the biological damage that they have cause the enviroment by the many years or lead deposits to the ground and the river.

The gun club has caused many fires the most recent one of which damaged 6 acres of our precious hills and threatened the forest and, had the fire made it over the ridge, it would have threatened the homes and lives of those near by.

Also there has been at least two serious accidents at the gun club which resulted in two of their shooters being air lifted to nearby hospitals with very serious injuries, one to the face and another to the hand.

There comes a time when the public's safety and residents rights have to come before your right to selfishly practice a hobby that is dangerous and continually annoying to the rest of the nearby community.

Our council has the obligation to, listen to it's residents, and protect their safety and well being, which is exactly what they were put in the position to do.

The Gun club was given plenty of time to provide the necessary items to the council and they failed to do so.

And, by the way, I agree with you....freedom, in this case, means the residents and the city doing something you don't like... like getting rid of the Gun Club!!!!! So live by your own saying and respect and accept that others have the right to do things you don't like as well.