Residents warn Siegler Springs North traffic, narrow roads and evacuation bottlenecks raise safety concerns

Community members and fire-safety representatives said the project would add traffic on narrow, winding roads that already pose evacuation hazards in wildfire conditions. The Seaguller Springs Firewise chair and others presented mapping and local investments (the community said it spent more than $160,000 in 2025 on hazardous-fuels management) and warned that Seigler Springs North and Red Hill Road contain steep grades, narrow widths and blind crests that create choke points unsuitable for heavy engines, livestock trailers and evacuation flows.

Duncan Gamlin, who identified himself as fire marshal for the Mountain Of Attention Sanctuary, said proposed on-site firefighting water (a 5,000-gallon tank) is inadequate for CAL FIRE Type 3 engines (about 500 gpm) and that simultaneous civilian evacuation plus emergency vehicle access could be physically impossible at key points. Several speakers urged the board to require a site-specific wildfire evacuation analysis rather than rely on generalized traffic thresholds; staff responded that County standards trigger an independent evacuation study when projects generate more than roughly 110 daily trips, and that this proposal is below that threshold, but staff said they rely on project-specific mitigation (improved internal access, gates and monitoring) as part of the environmental documentation.

The board accepted changes restricting tree removal to dead/dying/diseased trees and added conditions requiring updated site plans and compliance with CAL FIRE access and clearing standards; some supervisors and speakers remained skeptical that those measures are sufficient to address the evacuation risks raised.