This is a rural residential area, on narrow and dirt roads, that cannot be accessed quickly if challenging situations arise. The Rescue parcels are in the highest fire risk tier in the State of California. There are no fire hydrants and the Rescue Fire Department closest station is 6.2 miles away. Emergency response is delayed due to required access through Deer Valley Road. The proposed Perinatal facility parcel is surrounded by Bureau of Land Management land that is not maintained and could easily be part of a large area fire. If there was a wildfire anywhere in the area surrounding this BLM land, it would quickly endanger the whole area surrounding the chosen parcels in Rescue. There are two dirt access roads to the proposed Perinatal facility, and Deer Valley Road is the only way out of the area.
These facilities will house/staff 80 people, equivalent to a 12-16 home development (except all of these individuals will be on two concentrated campuses). There are very constrained evacuation routs, given the limited access of Sands/Deer Valley Road, and the single lane chokepoints. A number of the local residents were here during a wildfire in 2002 that came close to this area, and we experienced a complete traffic jam on Deer Valley Road, with evacuation response combined with individuals just driving close to “see the fire.” Evacuating 80 people, some with disabilities, along with the current residents, will create severe congestion and put everyone at risk for delayed evacuation. If these facilities are built, it is a disaster waiting to happen.
As we have mentioned prior, we believe these facilities should be built within the community where the majority of patients will be coming from. San Joaquin County has NO High Risk Fire Severity Zones anywhere within the county, and much of the county has NO Fire Risk identified by Cal-Fire.
If you were deciding where to build a 16 patient, 40 person Perinatal SUD treatment facility, along with a Child Care center, would you choose a location in the highest severity risk of fire, bordering unmaintained land that could easily bring a large wildfire to bear on your facility?
Rescue Deer Valley! 