Fire board member says he's 'guilty'; cleans up his back yard Fire board member says he's 'guilty'; cleans up his back yard (August 20, 2003)

By Renee Batti
Almanac News Editor

Menlo Park fire board member Steve Kennedy has made "significant efforts" to clean up what Fire Marshal Geoffrey Aus deemed a fire hazard in the back yard of his East Palo Alto apartment, according to Chief Paul Wilson of the Menlo Park Fire Protection District.

Chief Wilson said he has been in contact with the East Palo Alto code enforcement office, which was asked to inspect Mr. Kennedy's back yard after the apartment's manager filed a complaint with the fire district.

Mr. Kennedy told the Almanac last week that he is "pleading guilty to having a fire hazard in my back yard for about a month." But, he added, he needed to move "everything I owned" into the back yard to have his carpet replaced, then he left for vacation.

When he returned, he said, he had to work long days at his job as an independent courier, and didn't have time to move his belongings back inside until after the apartment manager complained to fire officials.

Mr. Kennedy is completing his first four-year term as a Menlo Park fire district board member, and is running for re-election in November. The district serves Menlo Park, Atherton, East Palo Alto and nearby unincorporated areas; Mr. Kennedy is the only East Palo Alto resident on the board.

Apartment manager Michael Rogan complained earlier this month in a letter to the fire marshal that clutter in Mr. Kennedy's back yard is an ongoing problem -- and a safety risk. "... Almost every six months, I have had to ask Mr. Kennedy ... to remove debris and other materials from the back area of his rental," Mr. Rogan wrote. "Usually, after threats of eviction, Mr. Kennedy will clean about 50 percent of his area. Within a week or two, the area returns to the same hazardous and unsightly condition."

Fire Marshal Aus inspected the property soon after, and reported that the back yard contained "combustibles in the form of paper, books, cardboard, two boats and other materials. ... The type of and amount of storage observed would be classified as a fire hazard" under two California codes.

Mr. Kennedy said late last week that he had cleaned up most of the area, but still had an armchair, a barrel that serves as a work bench and a canoe in the yard.

When a situation is deemed a fire hazard, fire officials from the local jurisdiction typically get involved in inspections. In this case, however, Menlo Park district officials have referred the case to the Redwood City fire department to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest, Chief Wilson told the Almanac.