Malibu Controlled Burn Goes Smoothly
County firefighters burned about 60 acres of brush along a ridge in Malibu Thursday as part of a continuing effort to reduce the hazards of the burgeoning fire season.
Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Mike Brown said the blaze, touched off along Decker Ridge Road at 9:30 a.m., was monitored by about 150 fire personnel to assure that it did not get out of control. The fire was out by midafternoon.
Brown said the ridge was selected because of the heavy brush accumulation in an area that has burned a number of times in the past. He said the brush, 15 feet tall in some spots, was crushed flat by bulldozers before it was torched.
Although the Los Alamos fire in New Mexico is a recent example of a planned burn that raged out of control, destroying more than 200 homes and 47,000 acres, no home has ever been lost to a controlled fire in Los Angeles County, Brown said.
He credited meticulous planning and careful monitoring of winds, temperatures and relative humidity before prescribed burns.
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