Forest Service Plans Controlled Fires to Clear Brush in Santa Ana Mountains
The U.S. Forest Service will light the first in a series of small controlled fires today in the mountains between Orange and Riverside counties in preparation for a major brush-clearing blaze later this month.
Fires will be set today, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and next Thursday to “reinforce the holding lines” for a 1,400-acre fire planned for May 20, according to Bill Pidanick, spokesman for the Trabuco Ranger District of Cleveland National Forest.
That blaze, to clear overgrown fire-prone areas, will be “one of the largest projects in the state,” Pidanick said.
The preparatory fires will burn vegetation between Bald Peak and Bedford Canyon along the North Main Divide, a rugged dirt road that winds through the center of the Santa Ana Mountains.
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