Hey you, in the hills

Attention hill dwellers: It's brush clearance season for you. Los Angeles Fire Department inspectors are out checking all 129,647 parcels in the scarily named Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone, a massive area that covers most of the city's chaparral. Hillside areas in Los Angeles began to be treated with care after the 1961 Bel-Air Fire that claimed 484 homes. The Bay Area's Oakland Hills Fire in 1991—a truly frightening event that destroyed 3,403 homes, 780 of them in the first hour—led to creation of the VHFHS zone. Here are the rules.

The Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone comprises most of the hilly and mountainous regions of the City of Los Angeles. It includes portions of the following communities:

Baldwin Hills, Bel Air Estates, Beverly Glen, Brentwood, Castellammare, Chatsworth, Eagle Rock, East Los Angeles, Echo Park, El Sereno, Encino, Glassell Park, Granada Hills, Hollywood, Lake View Terrace, Los Angeles, Los Feliz, Montecito Heights, Monterey Hills, Mount Olympus, Mount Washington, Pacific Palisades, Pacoima, Palisades Highlands, Porter Ranch, San Pedro, Shadow Hills, Sherman Oaks, Silver Lake, Studio City, Sunland, Sun Valley, Sylmar, Tarzana, Tujunga, West Hills, Westwood, Woodland Hills.

You know who you are. If for some reason you don't, here's a PDF map for the big picture. Hone in for more detail at the city�s Geographic Information Systems website or check with your local fire station. If they have to come by a third time, it will cost you $254.

Photo: Associated Press