"Rows of jagged peaks slowly revealed steep canyons. The land was blotchy: some parts were covered in thick, green and shrubby native chaparral plants; others were blackened, comprised mostly by fire-stricken earth where chaparral used to thrive; and still others were blanketed by bone-dry golden grasses where the land had years ago been choked out by fire."
"Amid this tapestry was a scattering of homes and businesses with only a handful of roads snaking out: Topanga. The dangers, should a fire roar down the canyon, were painfully clear at a thousand feet. "If there are any issues on the Boulevard..." County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said into her headset, trailing off. "The community is trapped," said Wade Crowfoot, California Secretary for Natural Resources, finishing the thought."
Nine months after a devastating fire, a helicopter surveyed the Santa Monica Mountains' varied landscape: green chaparral, blackened fire-stricken earth, and dry golden grasses where fire had previously dominated. A scattering of homes in Topanga sits along few roads, creating entrapment risk if a canyon fire advances. Crews from Los Angeles County Fire Department and the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority are cutting a miles-long web of fuel breaks across nearly 675 acres, with a prescribed burn planned in spring. Ventura County deployed goats and sheep to graze invasive grasses. The scale and speed of these actions have unsettled some ecology and fire experts.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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