Road Crews Shore Up Hills

Racing to beat winter rains, work crews are scrambling to stabilize fire-scarred hillsides along Southern California highways to prevent ash and silt from slopping into storm drains, oozing onto roadways and undermining key commuter routes.

Working under emergency orders, the California Department of Transportation has commissioned the erosion control work on hundreds of acres from Simi Valley to San Diego that were burned in the October and early November blazes.

Contractors are employing a range of measures along some of the state’s busiest highways, from using fiber-filled tubes to intercept runoff to showering hillsides with a nontoxic, wood-fiber paste designed to secure sediment and fire debris in the event of heavy rains.

The spraying process has been especially visible to motorists, temporarily turning blackened hillsides into vibrant green slopes -- the result of a food coloring used to mark the burn areas as they are sprayed.

“If we get heavy rains, this is all going to come down,” said Ron Dietz, president of Dietz Hydroseeding in Sylmar, indicating a nearby charred hillside as his crews last week laid the sticky sealant alongside California 118 between Moorpark and Simi Valley.

Dietz has been contracted to spray about 150 acres of Caltrans right-of-way in Ventura County with the glue-like substance, which has been supplemented with a mix of seeds for native grass and flowers. The work, which also is taking place on California highways 23 and 126, could be completed as soon as next week.

By some measures, the recent Southern California wildfires were the most devastating in state history, destroying about 3,500 homes and torching about 750,000 acres. A good portion of that land borders major commuter routes and narrow, two-lane highways leading in and out of isolated mountain communities.

In San Diego County, crews are doing erosion control on 200 acres of slopes and hillsides along interstates 8 and 15, as well as the web of state routes that lead to towns such as Ramona and the historic gold-mining town of Julian.

The work started in mid-November and is expected to take two to three months to complete, according to Caltrans officials.

Similar work will take place along nearly 300 acres of public roadway leading to resort communities in the mountains northeast of San Bernardino.