Firefighters Plan Preventive Burn South of Homes in Sherman Oaks

The Los Angeles city and county fire departments plan to burn about 100 acres of brush in Beverly Glen, just south of Sherman Oaks, early this week, the first preventive burn in such a heavily populated area, said county Fire Capt. Scott Franklin.

The burn is aimed at removing thick brush above Stone Canyon Reservoir to reduce the fuel source for disastrous fires, such as the Bel-Air blaze that swept through the same area in 1961, destroying 456 homes.

Preventive fires, supervised by firefighters, are usually set in remote brushlands outside cities, often in parks or forests.

Weather Crucial

The burning will be carried out in phases Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday if weather conditions permit, Franklin said.

Winds must be from the ocean, which will carry smoke and ash north, over Sherman Oaks.

No burning will be done if the wind is from the north “because then we’d be having a Santa Ana wind condition, which is what burned out the neighborhood in 1961--just the thing we’re trying to prevent,” Franklin said.

Winds must be below 10 m.p.h. and temperatures below 95 degrees to allow firefighters to proceed, he said.

The area to be burned runs from Mulholland Drive to the reservoir, bounded by Nicada Drive on the east and Roscomare Drive on the west.

First Phase of Project

Last month, in the project’s first phase, brush was cleared from a 400-foot-wide belt between the area to be burned and the nearest homes, Franklin said. Brush was piled up and burned to dispose of it. This week’s burn marks the beginning of destruction of standing brush, he said.