U.S. Forest Service Thinning Projects Protect Southern California Communities

November 13, 2024 – Two of this year’s larger fires in Southern California, the Line Fire and the Bridge Fire, demonstrated how fuels treatments protect communities and natural landscapes. The Line Fire was fueled by high winds and steep terrain and quickly spread toward the community of Angelus Oaks. Luckily for firefighters defending Angelus Oaks, previous wildfire mitigation work in San Bernardino National Forest, including prescribed fire and mechanical thinning, enabled firefighters to suppress the wildfire before it was able to burn through Angelus Oaks.

A few days later, the Bridge Fire was heading toward the community of Wrightwood but first hit Forest Service fuel breaks, where trees had been thinned out five years prior. When the fire reached the fuel breaks, fire behavior altered, slowed, and allowed firefighters to contain the blazes before the fire could reach the 5,000 residents of Wrightwood. These success stories on the importance of preventive treatments build on effectiveness reporting by CAL FIRE and other Task Force partners that are doing the proactive work to protect landscapes and communities before wildfire strikes.