3 national forests set to open again
Much of the Angeles, Los Padres and San Bernardino national forests will reopen today after being closed for two weeks due to the Southern California wildfires. Authorities warn, however, that an extreme fire risk remains.
In the Angeles National Forest, areas that burned during the Ranch and Buckweed fires will remain closed for regrowth of vegetation. The closures include forest lands near Saugus, Castaic, Rower Flats and Drinkwater Flats, said Stephanie Vela, a U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman.
The Ranch fire is 97% contained and has devoured 58,401 acres since it began Oct. 20. It was the first fire to hit the region, said Angeles forest spokesman Stanton Florea. The cause is under investigation.
The forests were closed because of the fires as well as the diversion of law enforcement and other government resources to other blazes throughout Southern California.
Florea said officials have evaluated the areas and the current fire activity and determined they were safe to open again.
“The thing that hasn’t improved is the fuel moisture,” Florea said. “That’s probably the greatest concern and until we get significant rainfall there’s going to be an extreme fire risk.” He said no significant rainfall was forecast in the near term and that Santa Ana winds could push the danger level to critical.
Although a marine layer has settled over the Los Angeles Basin this week, Florea said “most of the forest is not affected by that, the forest reaches 10,000 feet in elevation; a lot of the forest is in the sun and is warm and dry and a lot of the forest is exposed to the hot dry Mojave Desert air on the north side.”
The Cleveland National Forest will reopen Saturday.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
