LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE -- Visiting storm-ravaged areas of Los Angeles County on Sunday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he would cut red tape to help with recovery efforts and appoint a blue ribbon panel to investigate claims of federal mismanagement of last summer's Station fire.   

"It's important for us to come out, right now, and say 'what can we do to help?''' Schwarzenegger said while in La Canada Flintridge, the scene of some of the worst damage.   

Saturday's storm caused debris basins to overflow into residential neighborhoods, and although evacuated foothill residents were allowed back in their homes Sunday, more than 40 houses in La Canada Flintridge were mired in mud and at least nine were uninhabitable.   

The governor pledged to cut red tape to find disposal sites for thousands of truckloads of debris that must be removed from houses, yards, streets and catch basins.   

No state emergency declaration is necessary because the county is already under one because of January's storms.

The governor also promised to "appoint a blue ribbon commission to look into'' local claims that the debris flows could have been avoided had the U.S. Forest Service not mismanaged the response to last summer's Station fire.   

The Los Angeles Times first reported that the Forest Service decided not to provide air support for firefighters on the crucial second day of the fire, allowing it to grow to 160,000 acres -- the largest wildfire in Los Angeles history.   

A review by the Forest Service concluded in November that aircraft would have been ineffective because the Station fire was burning in a canyon too treacherous for ground crews to take advantage of water dumps, but that finding has been disputed by fire commanders who took part in the battle.

County Supervisor Mike Antonovich on Saturday called the storm damage in foothill communities such as La Crescenta, Acton, Altadena and La Canada Flintridge a "devastated war zone,'' and said those communities were "suffering from the actions of the U.S. Forest Service.''   

He said he was hopeful that federal reforms would be made to avoid a repeat of past mistakes.   

With Schwarzenegger standing beside her Sunday, La Canada Flintridge Mayor Laura Olhasso also blamed the Forest Service for the mud flows in her city and said the federal government should pay to remove thousands of truckloads of muck.   

"I call on the federal government to take the responsibility to help our residents pay for cleaning up the mud,'' Olhasso said at a news conference in a mud-filled Paradise Valley street. "The federal government must take responsibility for their mud that is coming out of their hills.''   

Olhasso has said Forest Service officials compounded the threat to residents living below the fire-denuded Angeles National Forest by refusing to let city crews onto federal property this winter to clear debris.   

Most foothill areas got a total of more than 3 inches of rain. Though more rain fell during last month's weeklong storm, the clogged catch basin and the cumulative effect of the rain apparently contributed to the mud flows.   

A boulder clogged the Mullally catch basin at the top of Ocean View Boulevard early Saturday, and other basins protecting homes on several cul-de- sacs also overflowed with rivers of mud and wildfire debris. Some residents of Paradise Valley barely got out of their homes with their lives, but no storm- related deaths or injuries were reported.   

Henrik Hairapetian and a neighbor rescued 86-year-old Ann Rouman from her slurry-filled home. When Hairapetian reached the woman, who uses oxygen to help her breathe, her hospital bed was floating in waist-high water.   

Paramedics were unable to drive up the road, which was turned in a debris-filled torrent, and Hairapetian, who customizes 4-wheel-drive vehicles for the movie industry, drove the woman to a hospital in his Hummer.   

On Manistee Drive, just off Ocean View Boulevard, a 20-year-old man was awakened by mud and debris hitting the side of his home about 5 a.m. He made a narrow escape as his window broke and the room started filling with muck.   

"It was about 5 a.m. and it was really loud, so I decided to get up,'' said Jennifer Dickens, who lives across the street. "I saw this wave coming. It was like a waterfall hitting the house.''   

Cars, 2-ton concrete K-rails, logs and boulders were thrown around like toys, and at least nine homes had mud throughout them. About a dozen others sustained significant structural damage, including partial collapses. About 25 cars were wrecked, and dozens of swimming pools were filled with mud.

County fire Inspector Matt Levesque said the high-water mark on one home was about eight feet.   

Damage to the homes alone is expected to run into the tens of millions of dollars, but public officials have yet to estimate damages or the price of cleanup operations.   

During Saturday's storm, other slide-prone areas fared better than Paradise Valley. Mud coated Blanchard Canyon Road in Tujunga but did not invade any homes.   

Los Angeles Fire Department Engine 24 got stuck in mud near Big Tujunga Canyon Road and Oro Vista Avenue just before 6 a.m. and needed to be winched out.   

Mud piled up about 5 feet high in places along Skyland Drive in Sierra Madre, where about 300 homes were evacuated, but mud-diversion barriers keep flows out of homes.