On Wednesday, the U.S. Forest Service announced that the Angeles National Forest, just a few miles from the Santa Clarita Valley, would remain in its forest-wide emergency closure for an additional week due to fire concerns.
Angeles National Forest, alongside the Cleveland and San Bernardino forests, is slated to remain closed due to fire concerns until September 22 at midnight a week after it was originally expected to reopen, the U.S. Forest Service announced this week.
“New fires continue to occur and major incidents have the potential to exhaust all resources,” Forest Service officials stated. “This increase in the fire danger will necessitate the need to restrict access to the national forest for non-essential activities.”
See Related: Angeles National Forest Near Santa Clarita Fire Danger Level Raised To ‘Extreme’
Forest conditions have prompted Angeles Forest fire managers to raise the fire danger level from ‘Extreme’ to ‘Critical,’ according to officials.
“Fuel moistures on the forest are very dry, this condition combined with high temperatures support rapid fire spread,” Angeles Forest Fire Chief Robert Garcia said. “By restricting the use of fire throughout the forest, and increasing staffing levels, the objective is to reduce the potential of a catastrophic wildfire starting.”
The closed forest lands reportedly provide about 20 percent of the nation’s clean water supply, a value estimated at $7.2 billion per year, according to Forest Service officials.
The Forest Service agency is known as the largest forestry research organization in the world, reportedly overseeing 193 million acres of public land.
“Through this order we hope to minimize the likelihood that visitors could become entrapped during an emergency and decrease the potential for new fire starts at a time of extremely limited firefighting resources,” officials stated. “Severe and persistent drought due to hot and dry weather has led to rapid growth and increasingly unpredictable fire behavior across Northern California with no relief expected until late fall.”
According to Forest Service officials, there are more than 15,000 personnel, 303 crews and 1,113 engines committed to fire fighting in California.
For more information on the Forest Service and the recent closures, click here.
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