Foothill area residents gathered at a community meeting last weekend where Los Angeles County, City of Glendale, Crescenta Valley, and U.S. Forest Service officials reviewed historic levels of damage by the Station Fire and outlined efforts to mitigate its ongoing effects with the onset of winter weather.

Two of the major topics were flooding and fraud. Mudslides triggered by winter rains were a the most ominous concern as the steep hillsides above the foothill communities have become unstable without vegetation to hold them together. However, the hot topic of the Q&A session was fraud with reports of unsavory individuals posing as local government workers to fleece vulnerable residents.

Nevertheless, the spirit of the meeting was relatively upbeat, with many residents volunteering to help in local projects to counter the effects of the fire. This was in stark contrast to the Monday meeting in Tujunga, where the Los Angeles Times reported that the mood had turned sour against the U.S Forest Service as residents of Big Tujunga Canyon were particularly hard hit with homes lost there.

Video: Includes highlights of the community meeting with a number of images revealing fire damage and efforts to contain its effects. Click here for still images from the presentation.

For more information:

Los Angeles County Department of Public Works

City of Glendale, California

County of Los Angeles Fire Museum Association

Angeles National Forest

Note: Fire photos courtesy City of Glendale, special thanks David Ahern. Archive photos courtesy County of Los Angeles Fire Museum Association, special thanks to Paul Schneider. Satellite imagery courtesy DigitalGlobe, special thanks to Stephanie Baulsir. All video was recorded with an iPod Nano 5G.