Local News in Brief : Bad Fire Season Predicted
Los Angeles County may have “the worst fire season ever” this summer because of the die-back that has killed about half the wild brush in the county, fire officials warned Wednesday.
The die-back, which began five years ago, has been steadily worsening and has killed all the brush in the hardest-hit areas of the San Gabriel and Santa Monica mountains, the officials said.
The dead brush ignites more easily, burns hotter and causes fires to spread faster, which will make brush fires in the coming summer and fall months more dangerous than in past years, said the county’s top fire official, John W. Englund.
Los Angeles city Fire Chief Donald O. Manning said the death of vegetation has left “up to 60 tons of fuel per acre” in mountain neighborhoods of “multimillion-dollar homes.”
Englund and Manning joined federal and state forestry officials at a news conference at a county fire camp in Altadena, urging that homeowners in brushy areas clear vegetation away from their homes and be alert for arsonists.
The cause of the die-back is not completely understood, but it is believed to be a combination of factors, including damage by a root fungus and a weather pattern that included heavy rains in 1982 and 1983 followed by years of drought.
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