HOLLYWOOD (CNS) - Soil movement today near a home under construction in the Nichols Canyon area of the Hollywood Hills prompted the evacuation of workers and residents from the area as a precaution.
Firefighters went to the 1800 block of North Stanley Avenue about 9:30 a.m., according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.
``A visible, unknown amount of soil has moved from beneath a large hillside home under construction,'' said Brian Humphrey of the LAFD.
Originally, 21 homes were ordered evacuated as a precaution until city building inspectors, engineers and geologists, among others, determined Thursday afternoon that they could be repopulated, Humphrey said. Residents at three of the homes chose not to evacuate, he said.
Four homes, two on Stanley Avenue and two on Courtney Terrace, were yellow-tagged, with access to their back yards restricted. A closure was lifted on Nichols Canyon Road, where some homes on the west side of the street north of Courtney Avenue had been evacuated, according to Humphrey.
A laser device with an alarm was placed to monitor the soil for additional possible movement, and water was pumped from a pool at one home, Humphrey said.
There were fears that the home under construction could slide, but project managers said the structure was atop 60-foot caissons that extend into bedrock.``The only thing that moved was the soil that sloughed off,'' Humphrey said.No injuries have been reported.