In a document recently released for public review, the San Diego County Planning Department is endorsing the adoption of "Shelter-in-Place" as official fire protection policy.

Shelter-in-Place instructs people to remain in their homes in the event of a wildland fire. Nowhere in the United States is this accepted policy, yet San Diego County planners propose that "in the event secondary access is unattainable due to topographical or geographical constraints, a Shelter-in-Place design strategy may be considered."

It is obvious why this is being done. Developers are attempting to justify dense development in fire-prone areas without providing evacuation routes. Advising people to stay in their homes in case of fire is the only fire "protection" they can offer.

From a fire standpoint, San Diego County has been described as the most dangerous region in the world. The combination of Santa Ana winds, steep terrain and a huge native fuel load (highly combustible vegetation and chaparral) create the potential for catastrophe. The 2003 fires were terrifying, yet the county is exacerbating the dangers from fire by not requiring evacuation as a condition for development.

So-called "enhanced" building codes and brush clearances do not validate Shelter-in-Place. Even if houses remain standing (and many will not), the smoke and radiant heat from a wildfire will kill residents inside their homes. Smoke getting inside is an acknowledged and unavoidable problem. Infants, asthmatics and the elderly will die. Radiant heat coming through the windows (sufficient to ignite curtains and furniture inside the house) also poses a severe threat. Human beings are far more vulnerable to smoke and heat than are stucco and exterior building materials.

Evacuation is the only rational option when it comes to fire protection. It has always been advised: "Evacuate early. Your possessions can be replaced, your life cannot." The instinct is to flee from fire. Sane people will not take the county's word to stay behind. Limited evacuation routes will become clogged for everyone. That the county is willing to forgo adequate evacuation as a condition for development and is instructing people to remain in their houses in a wildfire experiment is beyond belief.

Recently an elected local fire district board rejected as unsafe the Fire Protection Plan of the proposed Stonegate development (situated in a mountainous high-fire-hazard zone) because the plan didn't adequately allow for evacuation. In an unprecedented action, the county bypassed the fire district and rushed the plan to approval over the Christmas holiday.

Unfortunately, the county's Planning Department perceives its "clients" to be developers and its role to "level the playing field" for them. Is the client of a public agency not the public itself? Is it not the job of a public agency to protect the public's safety? The conduct of the Planning Department should serve as a stunning embarrassment to the county Board of Supervisors.

Fire safety in San Diego County is no longer a priority. The danger to human life is being ignored. For further information, please go to the community Web site LLCFIRE.com.

Madelyn Buchalter lives in the Hidden Meadows neighborhood in unincorporated San Diego County north of Escondido.