As a wildfire headed toward Mountain View Estates mobile home park near Chatsworth several years ago, the emergency response of the park's manager and assistant manager was simple, Gary Gibson recalls: They left, leaving him and hundreds of other residents to fend for themselves.
"They abandoned the park knowing the fire was bearing down on us," said Gibson, 62, who was later evacuated by sheriff's deputies. "It was a terrible thing to do, leaving the elderly and infirm behind to face that risk."
Gibson provided the account last week to the Senate Select Committee on Manufactured Housing and Communities, chaired by state Sen. Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana). The panel, which also includes state Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima), held a public hearing Friday in Sylmar to discuss safety issues raised by last year's wildfires and a bill by Padilla that would require new fire safety measures for the 4,707 mobile home parks in California.
The measure would require emergency evacuation plans and fire safety training for staff and managers, including procedures for the evacuation of senior citizens and people with disabilities or health problems.
The bill was prompted by the firestorms that destroyed or damaged at least five mobile home parks in Southern California in the last two years, including Oakridge in Sylmar, where about 500 homes burned to the ground in November.
Padilla said he was confident that his measure would pass, although the Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger have killed at least seven bills since 2001 to improve code enforcement and safety in mobile home parks.
"We've got support from public safety officials and residents," he said. "The governor was here after the fires and saw things for himself. I hope that will make a difference."
After November's fires, Schwarzenegger called for a review of building standards and emergency procedures for mobile homes, trying to bring them into line with requirements for conventional homes. He noted that the Oakridge units went up like matches.
At Friday's hearing, the committee heard dramatic testimony from mobile home owners who complained about a lack of emergency preparedness and escape routes, inadequate removal of flammable vegetation, and locks that had to be cut off gates to help residents flee oncoming flames.
