Drought, dead chaparral and nearly a century of good fortune have turned Franklin Canyon, above Beverly Hills, into the area's prime candidate for a wildfire this fall, fire officials said.
"Conditions are absolutely critical," said Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Scott Franklin. "We have a really dynamite situation going on."
Fire officials are divided on whether conditions in Franklin Canyon rival--or surpass--others they have seen, but they agree that the situation there is precarious. City, county and National Parks Service officials were sufficiently alarmed to meet to prepare for a potential disaster that they said could compare with the 1961 Bel-Air fire, in Stone Canyon, which destroyed more than 400 homes.
The two canyons are similar in that they are close to populous neighborhoods of luxury homes that could be quickly engulfed by flames, Franklin and other officials said.
Far More Ominous
The similarity ends when the extent of highly flammable, dead chaparral is compared. Recent measurements show Franklin Canyon's conditions are far more ominous that those in Stone Canyon in 1961, with twice as much dead brush as was measured in Stone Canyon 28 years ago, Franklin said.
In the next few weeks, county crews are scheduled to begin clearing and pruning brush to carve out several fire breaks on 440 acres of National Parks Service land in the canyon, which stretches from Beverly Drive and Franklin Canyon Road on the west to Coldwater Canyon Drive on the east. Nothing is now planned for the area's largest landholder--the Department of Water and Power.
Officials agree these steps are insufficient to protect the canyon. If luck holds through this fire season, they recommend a controlled burn program similar to one begun several years ago as Stone Canyon once again became a fire menace. Bel-Air residents, wary of another fire, lobbied for the controlled burn; others feared that a controlled burn in an urban area was potentially as dangerous as any brush fire.
Franklin, who has been overseeing the county's controlled burns for 10 years, said such a burn is essential for Franklin Canyon soon. Otherwise, he said, "If we do have a fire, it could run through the canyon."
Fire Service 'Nightmare'
A chief element of the Franklin Canyon danger--and its slightly less endangered next-door neighbor, Benedict Canyon--is its population density, an "absolute nightmare for fire services" in terms of access and proximity to people and their homes, said U. S. Forest Service scientist Philip Riggan.
