Firefighters monitor a fire in the suburb of Glendale on the outskirts of Los Angeles city, California, 01 Sep 2009
Firefighters watches over the fire.
Left over after the bush fires swepts across the California hills.
Federal authorities failed to follow through on plans earlier this year to burn away highly flammable brush in a forest on the edge of Los Angeles to avoid the very kind of wildfire now raging there, The Associated Press has learned.
Months before the huge blaze erupted, the U.S. Forest Service obtained permits to burn away the undergrowth and brush on more than 1,700 acres of the Angeles National Forest. But just 193 acres had been cleared by the time the fire broke out, Forest Service resource officer Steve Bear said.
The agency defended its efforts, saying weather, wind and environmental rules tightly limit how often these "prescribed burns" can be conducted.
"This brush was ready to explode," said Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, whose district overlaps the forest. "The environmentalists have gone to the extreme to prevent controlled burns, and as a result we have this catastrophe today."
Prescribed burns are intended to protect homes and lives by eliminating fuel that can cause explosive wildfires. The wildfire that has blackened 140,000 acres — or nearly 219 square miles — in the forest over the past week has been fed by the kind of tinder-dry vegetation that prescribed burns are designed to safely devour.
Government firefighters set thousands of blazes each year to reduce the wildfire risk in overgrown forests and grasslands around the nation. Prescribed burns can also be used to improve overall forest health and increase forage for wildlife.
Obtaining the necessary permits is a complicated process, and such efforts often draw protests from environmentalists.
"Our air quality, for a variety of factors, doesn't need to be further reduced by these controlled burns," she said.
Setting pre-emptive fires can be especially risky near heavily populated urban areas like Los Angeles because of the danger of flames burning out of control. Last month, a 90-acre prescribed burn near Foresta, on the edge of Yosemite National Park, jumped fire lines and consumed more than 7 square miles in the park.
Meanwhile , The blaze moved toward suburban homes and Mount Wilson, home of the space observatory and dozens of mobile phone, radio and television transmission towers about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northeast of downtown Los Angeles. Smoke was visible throughout the city. Crews returned to Mount Wilson today to defend it, the Forest Service said. May cause disruptions to thousands of residents.
--------------
--------------
