High and Not So Dry : Weather: ‘Super Scooper’ planes arrive to help battle blazes--if they happen--just as moister conditions allow firefighters to go off alert.

Dry desert winds abated enough Monday to decrease the immediate threat of fire across Los Angeles County, but residents and fire officials say they are not letting down their guard as the one-year anniversary of last year’s firestorms approaches.

Most fire crews were taken off alert and extra personnel were sent home as a resurgent flow of ocean air cut into the dry winds that had enveloped Southern California.

The return of smog was even a welcome sight at the county Fire Department’s Command and Control Center in East Los Angeles.

“That gray and brown crud that got blown offshore is blowing back in now,” said Los Angeles County Fire Battalion Chief Gene Wolf. “From the standpoint of fires, that is just great. If you are trying to breathe, you might not like it so much.”

Cooler conditions and diminished winds permitted county firefighters to back down from an alert that began Saturday afternoon.

Drivers who had been called in to operate several water tankers throughout the county were sent home. Fire patrols in pickups--doubled over the weekend--were cut back to normal levels. And an extra helicopter that had been put at the ready was deactivated.

Still, fire officials said that historically it is in the fall and even early winter--before the rains--that hillsides are the most parched and prone to ignition. In late October of last year, the first in a series of local firestorms began in Ventura County, eventually devastating several areas of Southern California.

The brush is dryer this year than it was a year ago, when 26 fires struck six Southern California counties, officials said. And last week’s rain did nothing to reduce the fire danger, said Los Angeles City Fire Chief Donald O. Manning.

“What we need is years and years of good rain to make any difference,” Manning said. “Otherwise, it’s darned if you do, and darned if you don’t. If it doesn’t rain, everything is dry, dry, dry. But if it just rains one year, we get a lot of grass, which is just feeder fuel.”

An additional measure of security will arrive this week when the county takes delivery of two highly touted “Super Scooper” airplanes. Unlike other firefighting aircraft, the planes can take on large loads of water from the ocean in just seconds, without landing.

The two bright yellow and red Canadair CL-215Ts, to be based at Van Nuys Airport, will be tested beginning today and will be ready for real action as early as Thursday. They will used throughout the county, not just in the unincorporated areas that are the responsibility of county firefighters.

“The Super Scooper is not a panacea or guarantee that all fires will be kept small, but it has a unique capacity to extinguish California’s hell fires,” Los Angeles County Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman said during a news conference Monday at Van Nuys Airport, where the planes will be based.

*

One of the planes is being leased from the Quebec government and the other donated for county use by Bombardier Inc., Canadair’s parent company, which is hoping to eventually sell Super Scoopers to the county and other California communities.

Several fire officials said Monday that preparations are also better on the ground than they were a year ago.

In Topanga Canyon, where three people died and 17,027 acres burned last fall, residents have been extremely vigilant about clearing brush and making other preparations. “It’s better than any other year I can remember,” said Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Steve Floyd, who is based in the canyon.

Two weeks ago, several community groups held a disaster preparedness fair at the local elementary school attended by about 500 residents, a record turnout, said Allen Emerson, civilian coordinator of Community Arson Watch. Residents have also been ripping out eucalyptus trees and other ornamental vegetation that burns easily, he said.

In La Canada, Fire Capt. Sal Chavez reported “much better participation” from homeowners in replacing wood roofs and making other preparations. And Battalion Chief David Baisley, who is in charge of the Altadena and La Canada Flintridge area, said that all wild land properties in border areas have been inspected for adherence to fire codes.

Last year’s fires also helped to remove up to 30 years of accumulated fuel from many hillsides. Said Peter McKellar, owner of a liquor store in Malibu that was threatened by flames last year: “There’s nothing left to burn. It’s like a moonscape. What’s there to burn on the moon?”

Not far away, at Carbon Canyon’s Fire Station No. 70, though, the thought of all the acres that did not burn could not be ignored.

“I’m trying to get the guys a lot of water and an early lunch because typically the fire starts about noon,” said Capt. Paul Donohue of the Malibu station. “It’s not as windy now as last year, but every bit as dry.”

Nearly everyone who drops by a private mailbox and message service in the Topanga Canyon mentions the possibility of another fire, owner Leigh Bloom said.

“When it gets hot and dry like this, everyone starts looking around,” Bloom said. “A lot of people have already moved out. But you can’t let it bother you or you will move, and this is the best place in L.A. to live.”

Times staff writers Ching-Ching Ni and Frank B. Williams contributed to this story.