In the Cleveland National Forest, aerial mulching via fixed-wing aircraft or helicopters will begin Monday in an effort to stabilize bare slopes.
Mulch is "that gooey, green stuff you see homeowners spray on their lawns to grow grass, but without the seeds," U.S. Forest Service spokesman Louis Haynes said.
County officials and homeowners have begun aggressive erosion control work in areas ravaged by wildfires, including laying sandbags to protect homes, clearing culverts and repairing roads, said Ed Edahl, a public information officer for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
More work is expected to begin next week in Orange County and be completed within a year, he said. In the meantime, Edahl said, "a real rain could create immediate problems."
"What residents do about this is really up to them," he added.
Nearly 100 cabin-dwellers inside the Angeles National Forest would be notified with a knock on the door by rangers if there is a serious risk, said Forest Service spokesman Stanton Florea, but local government officials are responsible for public safety in non-forest areas.
Hundreds of homes that burned in the Grass Valley and Slide fires could pose a risk to neighboring homes and to Green Valley Lake, Lake Arrowhead and other sources of drinking water, according to separate federal and state reports.
Two reports on the 28,000-acre Santiago fire -- which is believed to have been set by an arsonist Oct. 21 -- paint the most dire picture.
"The principal concern with the Santiago fire is loss of human life and property," one report states. Danger areas include, but are not limited to, Modjeska and Williams canyons, the upper reaches of Silverado Canyon and Santiago Canyon.
The state report recommends developing emergency evacuation plans and clearing dangerous vegetation from all evacuation routes.
It also calls for the closure of all public, open space recreation areas in these zones for up to two years. The closure would allow vegetation to grow back, experts say.
Westmoreland, the federal team leader, said that although sandbagging and straw bales might help stabilize soil in smaller or slower rainfalls, they would do little to hold back water and mud in more severe storms.
He said the best thing to do in areas like Modjeska is to get out when rain starts to fall.
"When it's raining, the safest thing is not to be there. . . . I would really like to have people be safe, and if they're not there when it's raining, they're safe."
