Controlled pile burn planned Friday above Topanga Canyon
First intentional burn in the Santa Monica Mountains in decades will dispose of brush cuttings along Summit-to-Summit Motorway.
For the first time in decades, a controlled burn is planned in the Santa Monica Mountains.
A large pile of dead wood and weeds that has been removed from a fire road above Topanga Canyon will be intentionally burned next Friday.
City council member Doug Stewart says LA County Fire and the MRCA are conducting the burn as part of a brush clearance project aimed at stopping potential fire spread.
“This coming Friday the 17th is a pile burn scheduled for the Topanga area. It’s along the Summit to Summit Motorway at Topanga Canyon Boulevard, and this is to burn the brush cuttings that were cleaned out by the brush clearing project and burn them right there in a safe environment,” Stewart said.
But Stewart says don’t expect a large area to get burned intentionally.
“You can’t build a Great Wall of China brush clearance — that’s not the way this works,” he said. “The idea is to have fire management so that there’s controlled areas to stop the fires from burning wild. All operations are dependent on favorable weather and air quality conditions. Los Angeles County will make a final go/no-go for the burn operation on the afternoon of April 16. If conditions are not suitable, the burn will be postponed.”
Again, the intentional burn is scheduled for this Friday, weather and fire conditions permitting.