Massive Log Piles Removed From Southern California Forest

Southern California fire officials say a decade’s worth of dead trees stacked along a mountain highway are being removed.

The San Bernardino County Fire Department announced Wednesday that property owners removed tons of logs in the past year and the project is nearly complete, with about 60 truckloads remaining.

The log piles resulted from efforts by the Fire Department and a multiagency task force to remove trees killed by a bark beetle infestation in the Lake Arrowhead area. Contractors were allowed to stack logs on both sides of Highway 18 at the site of the defunct Santa’s Village.

The log piles were supposed to be temporary but sat for years. Authorities finally ordered them removed, calling them a serious fire hazard and potential hindrance to a main mountain evacuation route.