BURBANK : County Clears Half of Hazardous Lands
More than half of Burbank properties cited by Los Angeles County as potential fire hazards were cleaned up by county crews this year, according to Burbank city records and county officials.
The owners of the 118 properties cleared of weeds and other debris will be getting bills totaling $14,800 in late September or early October. In March about 170 owners were notified that their properties were potential fire hazards and given a choice of either clearing the land themselves or paying a county crew to do the work.
Among the owners of the properties were NBC Plaza, the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power and entertainer Bob Hope, records show.
Burbank has contracted for the county to do the work as part of the Los Angeles County Agricultural Commission weed abatement program.
Melvin Makos, the bureau chief of the weed abatement program, said that countywide 53,000 properties were declared fire hazards and 10,000 were cleared by county crews in the 1992-93 fiscal year that ended June 30.
In the previous year, of 49,000 properties cited, 9,800 had to be cleared by county crews.
The properties are considered a hazard if there are enough weeds that when dry in the summer months they pose a risk of fire.
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