Officials still wary of fire flare-ups

Burbank Fire officials expect the areas scorched in the Verdugo

Mountains fire to continue to hold heat for at least two weeks,

requiring personnel to be ready to respond to any flare-ups such as

the one doused Thursday.

The main danger now is if the Santa Ana winds pick up and

re-ignite the flames.

“The fire is not active but it is alive out there,” interim

Burbank Fire Chief Tracy Pansini told the City Council Tuesday during

an overview of the four-day fire. “It may be sleeping, it may be

dormant but the ground is going to hold heat up to two weeks.”

The department’s concerns were realized late Thursday morning when

a hotspot flared up in an area above the Stough Canyon Nature Center.

“This is going to be happening,” Burbank Fire Capt. Ron Bell said

of the Thursday flare-up, which was doused immediately. “The hotspot

found some unburned fuel. We don’t expect this will go anywhere.”

Burbank had one engine on the Stough Canyon side of the mountains

and Los Angeles City Fire Department had equipment on the La Tuna

Canyon side of the mountain, Bell said.

More than 1,000 acres were burned in the Verdugo Mountains by the

fire that broke out in the late afternoon of Sept. 29 in the luau

grounds of the Castaway Restaurant near the De Bell Golf Course. The

cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Up to 1,400 firefighters, some from as far away as Riverside and

Kern counties and the city of Santa Barbara, fought the blaze that

spread through Stough and Wildwood canyons, threatened communication

towers on the mountain ridge and caused an evacuation of up to 70

homes along Country Club Drive in Sunset Canyon. The evacuation order

was rescinded Sunday morning.

With the fire contained, the focus of the city is on potential

erosion on the denuded mountain slopes from winter rains.

“We’re hoping for a dry winter but planning for the worst,”

interim Public Works Director Bonnie Teaford said.

The city is working with Los Angeles County to inspect and clean

out debris basins that are designed to capture the flow out of the

mountains, settle out the heavy material and let the water continue

through, Teaford said.

The three largest debris basins in the city are owned by the

county.

“We’re also coordinating with the county on channelization and

other controls we may have to implement,” Teaford said.

At John Muir Middle School, life returned to normal after playing

host to the firefighters who battled the blaze. The school’s athletic

fields became home as tents and portable kitchen units were set up.

Of the four days the firefighters camped out at the school, Muir

Principal Dan Hacking described the scene as a tale of two campuses,

with the firefighters taking over the lower fields and students and

staff in the buildings.

“It was remarkable how little chaos there was,” Hacking said.