Monday, January 9, 2017

Corralitas Red Car Property: Neighbors Keeping An Eye On Silver Lake Fire Burn Area

Photo: Gary Vlahakis, January 9, 2016.  The June 19, 2016 Silver Lake Fire burned up to the homes atop this slope.  Luckily the protected native Coast Live Oak and Black Walnut Trees are recovering from the fire and should help hold the hillside together.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

The Red Car Property goes up to roughly the telephone poles in the middle of the slope.  I'm willing to speculate, we've not seen the usual amount of slippage on slope yet because the fire department poured an enormous volume of water on the slope during and after the fire, with hours of water drops via helicopters and fire hoses from both top and bottom of the hill.  Dead trees were removed and brush clearance was done in December.  

Worth noting: the denuded slope at the far end was cut into sharply to make room for the southbound lanes of the 2 Freeway in 1960.  The Red Car Property, Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract, 18-Acre Elysian Park Parcel and Menlo Property were among the large vacant parcels from which countless tons of earth were removed for grading of the adjacent 2 and 5 Freeways in 1960-1962.  When construction was finished, these lots also became dumping grounds for the unused dirt.