Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract: Fire on Walcott Way (Across 2 Freeway From Red Car Property)

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, January 16, 2025.  A fire on Walcott Way in Elysian Heights started around 8:30pm.  LAFD Arson Unit is investigating.

Neighbors were already on edge after two weeks of Eaton, Pallisades and Sunset (Runyon Canyon) firestorms (among other fires) and Extreme Red Flag Warnings.  A fire broke out Thursday night on a perilously steep hillside in the Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract.  Some neighbors recorded the fire while awaiting LAFD response. Others texted and made sure their go-bags were by the door. 

I'm not exaggerating when I say the fire was in just about the worst place possible on the hill, below the downslope end of Walcott, where it literally drops off the side of a hill. The City  streets on the way to, and including Walcott are among the steepest in Los Angeles.  The only vehicle route includes narrow blind hairpin turns, confusing street signs, (public staircases and paper streets that don't always show as such in navigation software) and few places for drivers to turn around easily.  

I reiterate, there is only one way in and out of this very steep, 120 year old hillside neighborhood in the Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract.

Fortunately, there was no wind Thursday night and once the first of many fire engines that took strategic positions around the hill, and neighborhood, reached the end of Walcott, LAFD was able to quickly extinguish the fire. LAPD cars were also deployed on and around the hill. A year after the 2016 fire in the Red Car Property Neighborhood, the LAFD further refined their deployment plans in the neighborhood.

According to neighbors, the fire on Walcott was contained to a shed and vegetation below the end of the paved street and between houses.  However, the size of the flames as seen on video shot by a Red Car Property neighbor was a scary site.  Watch the video on YouTube.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, January 18, 2024.  The circle marks the approximate location of the fire.  The 2 Freeway is in the foreground.

There is only one access road for vehicles on the steep slope above the 14-lot subdivision off Allesandro.  Through the years, we've written extensively about access issues for emergency vehicles.

Years ago, I timed an LAFD ladder truck take 45 minutes to back all the way down the hill out to Allesandro from the top of the hill, on a sunny day.  (Since that non-fire emergency, LAFD changed the way they deploy engines in response to emergencies on that hill.)  

Walcott is a "no parking anytime" street.  According to neighbors, it is not unusual to find parked cars completely blocking the street, including last Friday night, just over 24 hours after the fire.  They also report cars frequently parked blocking the one fire hydrant on Walcott at the top of the Landa Street Public Staircase.  The curb at the hydrant is even painted red.  

So what can you do?  If you live on a Red Flag No Parking Street - sign up for LAFD alerts and learn where you can park on those days.  Several neighborhood streets are subect no parking on Red Flag Days within the City of Los Angeles. If you have tenants or own short term rental property on a Red Flag street please inform your tenants of the issue.  Ignorance of the law is not an excuse, your car can still legally be towed.

If you're still questioning why we have Red Flag streets in our neighborhood, note the second photo in this post.

It is not unusual for homeless to take up residence in hiding places in dense vegetation, on steep slopes, in backyards, in the open and vacant lots bordering backyards. If you discover an encampment on your property call the non-emergency 1-877-ASK-LAPD and ask them to remove the trespasser from your HILLSIDE property.  Do not confront them on your own. LAPD can help facilitate a shelter bed.

Brush clearance is a year-round responsibility.  If your property includes steep slopes do not rush to cut down native trees as they do not burn as easily as many non-natives (and recovered after the 2016 fire). Report dense brush issues beneath power lines directly to the DWP.  If you can't see your slope easily from your house, take a walk around your property or the neighborhood for a better view. 

LAFD Brush Unit has more info on their website.

Get to know your neighbors, exchange contact info and take responsibility for making our neighborhood a safer place to live. 

Red Car Property: Mudwatch Near Adelbert

Photos: Red Car Property Neighbor January 16, 2023.

Another predictable mudslide is below properties on Adelbert Ave, flowing down the Red Car Property.  This Red Car Property slope was stabilized and restored in 2009, after a 2005 slide.

Lesson: plant these slopes with native trees to help hold them together.  At least toss some found acorns on the slope from the nearby Coast Live Oak or Black Walnuts from the once plentiful natives adjacent Adelbert. just north of this location. And stop clear cutting young native trees which do repopulate slopes.

This crumbling slope and mudslide is in the same stretch on the Red Car Property's Lot C.  The same craftsman home is in both photos.
 

Red Car Canyon: Mudwatch for Lake View Ave

Photos: Red Car Property Neighbor, January 12, 2023.  

Around the 6” of rain earlier this week brought predictable mudslides and a downed tree just north of the mudslide on the Lake View Ave side of Red Car Canyon.  This slope is Red Car Property up to the fence line.  There are public utility  easements along the property line.

The Red Car Property owner chopped down all the young trees on this slope and throughout the property without regard to size or species. There were a number of young protected Coast Live Oak and California Black Walnut trees that managed to recover from the 2016 fire.  While this slope did not burn it was severely damaged by the heat.  

Most of the shrub-like plants in the above photo are remnants of trees that keep trying grow back every year after brush clearance.  I speculate the total disregard for hillside ecosystems is intentional, as it is common developer tactic to kill off as many trees as possible through neglect or removal in advance of development application.  

Over 30 years, we’ve seen the slope slide below and around the sewer outlet (the round concrete feature topped with green spray paint, adjacent the large tree at the fence line in photo).

In recent years, City contractors replaced sewer lines in the slope along the property line between the Red Car Property and homes above on Lake View.

In 2009 the Red Car Property owner repaired a  2005 landslide on the Adelbert end of the Red Car Property. 

It is a very steep slope cut for the Red Car Trolley in 1904.  Since the tracks were removed in 1955, a forest of trees repopulated the slope.  

Red Car Canyon: First Tree Down

Photos: Red Car Property Neighbor, January 12, 2023.  

A large Eucalyptus tree went down on the Lake View Ave side of Red Car Canyon. 

We’ve seen a number of Eucalyptus go down in the same part of the canyon over the past 3 decades.  

Eucalyptus do not hold hillsides together like native Coast Live Oak, Black Walnut and Toyon.

  

 

Red Car Canyon: Swampy

Photos: Red Car Property Neighbor, January 12, 2023.  

Two days after a major storm dumped around 6” of rain on the neighborhood, Red Car Canyon was swampy but walkable.

Just stop driving through the canyon. The Red Car Property is not a park, but it still looks like one.

The pine tree leaning at a 45 degree angle has been been held up by another tree for decades.