This is not the first time fire pits have been targeted for removal in Southern California — but the last major effort to remove fire pits was only for budgetary reasons: San Diego cut the financing for them in 2008 as the city dealt with budget shortfalls.
"The harder you try to remove fire, the worse it gets," says Mark Finney, a research scientist at the U.S. Forest Service's research lab in Missoula, Mont.
During a somber noon news conference at the university, Mr. Campolo played down the importance of the university's recent decision to remove fire hoses from standpipes on each of Boland Hall's six floors.
The state parks department, suffering its own fiscal woes, also plans to remove fire rings at several beaches, though an informal tally by beachcalifornia.com shows that 29 of 108 state parks with beaches still allow them.
In Alaska, where a half-million acres have burned this year and the fire season came earlier than anyone can remember, insurers have already stopped offering policies to homeowners who refuse to remove fire hazards from their houses in areas where dead spruce trees are likely to burn.
As a result, the council voted to remove Fire Chief Victor Hiscock.
