PHOTOS: Controlled Burn Reduces Fire Risk for Angelus Oaks and Highway 38

The Forest Service burned about 70 acres Thursday and Friday in the mountains northeast of Redlands and Loma Linda as part of the Angelus Oaks Fuel Reduction Project, a spokesman for the San Bernardino National Forest said.

"We had 120 acres planned but we lost a couple days due to the windy weather earlier this week," John Miller of the U.S. Forest Service said. "In coming days we'll be looking to finish off some of those acres we planned. It's all dependent on the weather."

The prescribed burn area is west of Highway 38 and uphill from the Oaks Restaurant, Miller said. The land is all national forest, not wilderness. The intent is to increase the fire break protecting the northwest side of Angelus Oaks.

Al Kelley of Redlands, a former Forest Service firefighter and wilderness ranger in the San Jacinto District, went with Miller on Thursday to take photos of the prescribed burn.

"I just wanted to show the work they're doing to reduce the risk in the forest, and to nearby communities," Al Kelley, 62, of Redlands. "They have a lot of people up there working, keeping an eye on it.

"Fuel reduction is all about reducing the risk of a bad fire," Kelley said. "All along that mountain front, from Angelus Oaks to Yucaipa Ridge to Banning, there's been lack of fire in most of that area. It hasn't burned in recorded in history."

The project area is along Forest Road 1N12, about 300 yards from the Angelus Oaks community, forest officials said.

Firefighters used a technique called "hand burning," with tools such as drip torches and fusees "to reduce the chamise component in the chaparral ecosystem," forest officials said.

"Doing this work under . . .  favorable weather conditions reduces the risk of a catastrophic wildfire threatening mountain communities under typical, dryer and windy conditions common to the area in the summer and fall fire seasons," Front Country District Ranger Gabe Garcia said.

"The understory burn is part of a larger 535 acre project initiated in 2004 and will maintain that work we have all invested in to improve the survivability of Angelus Oaks," Garcia said.

Drought and infestation have contributed over the years to the amount of dead fuel in the mountains near Forest Falls, Angelus Oaks, Big Bear, Lake Arrowhead, and Idyllwild.

Fuel reduction projects near mountain communities include removing dead trees, thinning and stacking piles of dense brush, and burning the piles during wet seasons, forest officials said.

During burn operations this week the Santa Ana River Trail and Forest Road 1N12 were closed to public use. They were re-opened as of Friday afternoon.

"Smoke from the prescribed fire was visible from Big Bear, Running Springs, Crestline and communities in the Redlands, Yucaipa, San Bernardino area," forest officials said.

For more information about the Angelus Oaks Fuel Reduction Project visit http://inciweb.org/incident/3341.

The San Bernardino National Forest is comprised of three Ranger Districts spanning more than 1,000 square miles in San Bernardino and Riverside counties. For more info about the forest visit http://www.fs.usda.gov/sbnf.

Follow Redlands-Loma Linda Patch on Twitter and Facebook, and sign up for the free daily news letter here.