GLENDALE — Residents in the city’s canyon areas have started their own rite of summer — removing brush and weeds.
Glendale Fire Department officials asked homeowners to clear at least 100 to 150 yards from behind their homes to prevent fires, Fire Department Capt. Tom Propst said.
Fire crews clean up weeds and brush during the summer and inspect the homes to confirm they are in compliance. If the homeowner chooses to not clean up, they can be taxed.
The Fire Department started sending weed-abatement notices on May 1 to homeowners in the areas of La Crescenta, Adams Hill, Forest Lawn, Verdugo, San Rafael, Glenoaks Canyon and Chevy Chase Canyon.
“Weed abatement proves to be effective,” Propst said. “I think people are starting to look at it seriously.”
Plants and weeds that grow during rainy season dry up in the summer and must be trimmed, he said.
The 100- to 150-yard brush clearance creates a defensible space for homeowners in the event of a fire, Propst said. The space protects homes from flames and allows firefighters to get closer to a blaze and save homes.
“The majority of people who are doing this are seeing the positives and negatives, such as the homes being threatened by fire,” Propst said.
During a fire last month that started on Day Street and Lowell Avenue in La Crescenta, a hillside home was saved because the homeowners had cleared brush and weeds from their backyard, he said.
Most residents, Propst said, comply with the Fire Department’s weeds-abatement warning.
Karen Carlin, who has lived in Glenoaks Canyon for 42 years, is one of those residents. She hires a gardener to clear her backyard in the beginning of the summer and at end of September.
“Summer brings back a lot of dry brush,” Carlin said.
She has been clearing brush from her home for five years per the Fire Department’s request.
Fire crews drive through hillside neighborhoods looking for homes that haven’t complied with the weed-abatement notice, Propst said.
The Fire Department then sends a warning to residents that haven’t cleared up brush and weeds from their property. If the homeowners continue to not clean the area, Los Angeles County crews are sent to do the work, Propst said. The homeowner is then taxed for the county’s service, he said.
