Firefighters Plan June Burn to Ease Mulholland Danger

Los Angeles city and county firefighters are planning to burn away at least 100 acres of heavy brush just south of Sherman Oaks in June, the first major preventive burn in such an urbanized area, a county Fire Department captain told a meeting of Santa Monica Mountains homeowners.

“We’ve told you all your life that fire is bad, bad, bad. But tonight I want you to look at it with an open mind,” Capt. Scott Franklin asked a meeting of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn.

The burning, south of Mulholland Drive between Roscomare Road and Beverly Glen Boulevard, will be part of an experiment to reduce the fire danger from dead chaparral, Franklin told the group last week.

Although such preventive fires are common outside cities, this will be “the first major project of this type” so close to an urban area, said Franklin, vegetation management coordinator for the county Fire Department.

He warned the audience to expect drifting soot, ash and smoke. But most of the homeowners agreed that they prefer those inconveniences to living with the danger of a brush fire fueled by thick chaparral.

Greatly Reduce Danger

Franklin advised residents with severe allergies to leave the area or stay indoors during the fire.

An increase in the amount of dead chaparral in the Stone Canyon Reservoir area has added to the danger from brush fires in the neighborhood, he said. Controlled burning of the brush by firefighters, he said, will greatly reduce the danger of a wild fire spreading uncontrollably.

“If we don’t do it, I guarantee big trouble,” Franklin said.

In the first phase, a 100-acre zone just south of Mulholland Drive will be burned by four fires on separate days. After the first burning, it will be decided whether fire or other methods--such as cutting, bulldozing or herbicides--will be used to eliminate heavy brush on about 500 acres to the south, around Stone Canyon reservoir.

If more fires are decided on, the burning will not be carried out until next year, he said.

Except for a small cluster of privately owned tracts between Nicada and Mullholland drives, the land is owned by the Department of Water and Power, he said.

300-Foot Safety Zone

Work has already begun on a 300-foot safety zone being cleared between the burn area and nearby homes, he said. During the fires, city and county firefighters and a retardant-dropping helicopter will be on hand to prevent the spread of flames, he said.

The brush must be removed to prevent another disaster like the Bel-Air fire of 1961, one of the worst in Los Angeles history, which started near where the controlled burn is planned, he said. That fire burned 10 square miles in the Bel-Air area, destroying 460 homes. Franklin estimated that the $24-million loss would amount to $500 million by today’s real estate values.

The date for the controlled fires depends on weather and wind conditions.

The fires will be set only when weather forecasts call for continued cool ocean breezes blowing from the southwest, he said. Such winds will carry ashes and smoke northward over Sherman Oaks, instead of southward over Beverly Hills and Bel-Air. But it would be dangerous to set the fire with winds from the north, which are usually strong, unpredictable Santa Anas, Franklin said.

To Be Announced

The decision to burn will be made the day of the fire and announced by radio and through leaflets.

A homeowner complained to Franklin about the problem of drifting ashes. Another resident, Margaret Elliot, commented later: “If she had lived through the Bel-Air fire and the ashes from that, she wouldn’t complain.”

Joanne Knopoff, another Bel-Air fire veteran, said drifting ashes would be “extremely minor” contrasted with a large wild fire.

Although most of the audience appeared convinced by Franklin, association President Richard Close said later he is still worried “whether this can be done safely. It is clear from their presentation that this is normally done in rural areas. I just hope they’re as good as they say.”