Hazardous vegetation
Regarding “Trees decrease East Bay fire risk” (Open Forum, June 22): Thank you to The Chronicle for showing a picture which refutes the argument that eucalyptus trees prevent fire risk. That is the exact grove of trees, where one eucalyptus tree fell and crushed a police car and burned the occupants to cinders in the 1991 Oakland hills fire. Fortunately, I, my son and five others were in a truck directly ahead. Our brave driver was blinded by the flames. As flames swirled into our truck, she guessed where the winding road meandered and drove us to safety.
As you can easily see from the picture, eucalyptus trees are extremely dangerous. Their debris falls down and kills the vegetation below. The trees ooze with eucalyptus oil which is highly flammable. Their flames block the street. They are a major hazard in the East Bay hills, where they block fire escape routes. The trees prevents the native vegetation from growing and wildlife from thriving. Furthermore, it is well know in Australia that eucalyptus trees are extreme fire dangers. Please tell your city officials that we must remove such hazardous vegetation. If those trees were grass, then a policeman and four others would have lived.
Howard Matis, Berkeley