CA data: just one Palisades brush clearance before fire
Story by Kenneth Schrupp • 12h
(The Center Square) — State data shows the California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention carried out only one brush clearance operation in the Pacific Palisades before the deadly Palisades Fire killed 12 Americans and destroyed 6,837 structures, highlighting the state’s slow progress in forest management.
This single Cal Fire-funded fuel reduction operation in Cal Fire's database covering 2023 to the present involved mastication of 184 acres of scrubland across the over 75,000-acre Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority between November and December 2024. This operation focused on the border between the coastal community of the Pacific Palisades and the slightly more inland Brentwood community in MRCA’s Westridge-Canyonback Park along Mandeville Canyon Road, and along the Bel-Air, eastern side of the San Diego Freeway.
The 23,488-acre Palisades Fire never made it to the San Diego Freeway, and was stopped on the western side of Mandeville Canyon, suggesting the operation may have played a role in stopping the fire from spreading further east through the Santa Monica Mountains.
But within the immediate Palisades area, however, CalFire’s MCRA mastication operation was only conducted on a thin sliver in Temescal Gateway Park immediately around the base of Temescal Fire Road, but not to the east or west, or even further up the road, leaving the entire Palisades community vulnerable to fire — including the treated area, which ultimately completely burned.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/ca-data-just-one-palisades-brush-clearance-before-fire/ar-AA1HVWrJ?ocid=widgetonlockscreen&cvid=ff6c7ab45dd1488d8d0c3ea3bc4b7e03&ei=34
