FIREFIGHTERS READY FOR MUDSLIDES RAINSTORM MOVES OFF COAST, BUT COULD STILL WREAK HAVOC.

Byline: Ryan Oliver Staff Writer

Firefighters handed out sandbags to Los Angeles and Ventura County area residents Monday as weather forecasters issued flood and mudslide warnings throughout the region.

``The ground is already saturated from the Christmas Day rain, so there's still a good chance for mudslides,'' said Ryan Kittell of the National Weather Service.

Forecasters originally said the city could be hit with as much as three inches of rain, but by Monday afternoon, the estimate was reduced to about an inch as the storm took an unexpected path off the coast.

``It's still going to rain pretty good, but the storm's taken more of a southerly track,'' Kittell said. ``Before we thought it was going to move along the coast and then turn southeast, but now it seems just be going south over the ocean.''

Southern California firefighters still braced for the worst Monday and ordered additional manpower to some of their most mudslide-prone areas near Claremont, where wildfires earlier this year stripped the hillsides of protective vegetation.

Firefighters were staffing fire patrol vehicles to keep an eye on flood conditions there.

``With the ground already saturated, it might not take much rain for there to be a problem in the fire-ravaged areas,'' said Los Angeles County Fire Department spokesman Capt. Mark Savage. ``People need to be aware the debris basins can overflow, and be familiar with the places and be aware of alternate escape routes if told to evacuate.''

Bob Collis of the Los Angeles Fire Department said mudslides are not as likely within city boundaries. But residents can pick up as many as 25 sandbags at any fire station, Collis said.

``Fortunately we do not have a large burnout on the hill areas that they have in other parts of the county, but people should be on the lookout anyway,'' Collis said.

Mudslide warnings also are in effect in Ventura County, where more than 100,000 acres were charred in the October wildfires, said Stephen Jewett, district conservationist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Somis.

Even those who live in areas far from the fire's path should be careful, Jewett said.

``You get the sediment flow and the debris and there's no telling where that's going to go,'' he said. ``Just because you're not in the fire-affected area, if you're downstream from it, you need to be cautious.''

Mountain areas around Ventura County, including fire-blackened areas of the Los Padres National Forest, could see two inches to three inches of precipitation, said Kittell.

Staff Writer Andrea Cavanaugh contributed to this story.

Ryan Oliver, [phone]

ryan.oliver(at)dailynews.com