Smoke coming from Tapia Road near the Castaic Animal Shelter is from a controlled burn being carried out by the Los Angeles County Fire Department, fire officials said.
A controlled burn is an exercise by firefighters to remove dry and dead brush that could serve to fuel a real fire.
The controlled burn on Charlie Canyon Road and Tapia Road in Castaic began just before 8 a.m., prompting a few phone calls of concern from citizens reporting what they thought was a real fire.
“We like to keep the (real) fires at a smaller size and more manageable,” Fire Department spokesman Brian Stevens said Thursday morning.
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