1970 — Sep 22-Oct 4, CA Wildfires (some arson), esp. Laguna Fire, esp. Southern CA-13-16

–16  Rowley, Dale. The Fires that created an Incident Management System. No date, p. 1 of 18.

–13  UPI. “Last of State Fires Quelled.” Bakersfield Californian, 10-5-1970, p. 6.

–11  Barlay, Stephen. Fire: An International Report. VT: Stephen Greene Press, 1973, p. 241.

–10  by Sep 30. AP. “Death Toll Now 10.” Progress-Bulletin, Pomona, CA. 9-30-1970, A2.

 

Los Angeles County                                                                                                              (2)

–3  Chatsworth/Malibu/Simi area, Sep 25-27.[1]

–2  Home north of Los Angeles, Sep 29. Male, 78 and Female, 75.[2]

 

Los Angeles Co. (northern), San Bernardino Co. (western), San Gabriel Mts. Fire     (5)

–5  San Gabriel Mts. Sep 28. U.S. Forest Service helicopter being used to fight wildfire crashes.[3]

 

San Diego County (eastern), Cleveland National Forest, Laguna Fire (Sep 26-Oct 3)  (8)

–8  Gabbert, Bill. “The Laguna Fire, 45 years ago today.” Wildfiretoday.com, 9-26-2015.

 

Narrative Information

 

Barlay: “1970 was a particularly bad year in Southern California. Late in September dozens of fires got out of hand and ravaged the area for more than a week. Within a couple of days, some 60,000 people had to be evacuated. There had been no significant rain tor two hundred days. One major fire was probably started by careless trash-burning near the glamorous Malibu Beach. A firebug, allegedly seen starting five separate fires, was sought by the authorities….By the end of the week, eleven people were dead and 350 were injured. 400 homes and 300 other buildings were destroyed, and almost 600,000 acres of brush-land were reduced to ashes.” (Barlay, Stephen. Fire: An International Report. 1973, p. 241.)

 

Gabbert: “At 6:15 a.m. PT on September 26, 1970 the Laguna Fire started on Mt. Laguna east of San Diego near the intersection of Kitchen Creek Road and the Sunrise Highway. By the time it was stopped on Oct. 3 1970 it had burned 175,425 acres, killed eight civilians, and destroyed 382 homes. In the first 24 hours the fire burned 30 miles, from Mount Laguna, California into the outskirts of El Cajon and Spring Valley, devastating the communities of Harbison Canyon and Crest. Previously known as the Kitchen Creek Fire and the Boulder Oaks Fire, it was, at its time, the second largest fire in the history of California.

 

“The Laguna fire started from downed power lines during a Santa Ana wind event. Santa Anas are warm, dry winds that characteristically appear in Southern California during autumn and early winter….

 

Rowley: “From September 22 to October 4, 1970, 773 wildfires in Southern California, burned 576,508 acres, destroyed 722 homes and killed 16 people.

 

“From these 13 days of death and destruction by out-of-control wildfires in the Urban-Wildland Interface, a Federally-funded project was created in California called the “FIrefighting REsources of Southern California Organized for Potential Emergencies” or otherwise known as FIRESCOPE. Out of the FIRESCOPE research project came two new concepts, the Incident Command System (ICS) and the Multi-Agency Coordination System (MACS)….

 

“In the fall of 1970, the conditions for a major wildland disaster were present in California and the State’s local, state and federal firefighters waited for the shoe to drop. Southern California had experienced little or no rain in six months. In mid-September the humidity dropped to ten percent and at various times the humidity dropped to around one to two percent. Temperatures were averaging over 100 degrees Fahrenheit day after day. Winds were gusting; at times the wind velocities were hurricane strength.[4]

 

“Then it began. “It all started when a man set his match intentionally to tinder-dry grass along the Fish Ranch Road in the hills behind Oakland. Within minutes flames, feeding on dry coyote brush and pine trees and whipped by a strong northeast wind, swept to the ridge top and leaped into homes perched on the steep hillside above San Francisco Bay. In less than two hours fire completely destroyed 36 homes, badly damaged 37 others, and desolated 230 acres of valuable watershed.” (California Aflame p.3) However, no one expected that this fire would grow to the size it did and have the impact that it did on California firefighting.

 

“ ‘The 1970 fire disaster was unique in modern times, primarily in terms of geographical area involved, total acreage burned, the wildland-urban nature of the fires, and the large number of agencies, people, and equipment involved. Not since the Bar Harbor Fires in Maine in 1947, perhaps, has such a widespread disaster of similar nature occurred. Control of California’s 1970 catastrophe depended upon the nationwide depth of the United States Forest Service, the statewide depth of the California Division of Forestry, and execution of the State Fire Disaster Plan under which men and equipment from many communities converged upon the various fires,

providing assistance to local firefighting forces.’ (California Aflame, p. 1)

 

“ ‘After thirteen days of fire, the California firefighters managed to stabilize the disaster. “The statewide disaster ended–slowly, stubbornly–when the Fire Boss of the 34,000 acre Meyers Fire

in southern California determined his fire had been wholly surrounded by a line cleared of flammable fuel.” (California Aflame, p. 1) During those thirteen days, 773 individual wildfires swept across Southern California and burned almost 580,000 acres. “The fires completely destroyed 722 homes when they burned isolated residences or spread from the hills into urban communities. Sixteen lives were lost, attributed directly to the fire activity. Suppression costs and damages together were estimated at 233 million dollars.’ (California Aflame p. 3)….” (Rowley, Dale D. The Fires that created an Incident Management System. No date, pp. 1-3.)

 

Newspapers

 

Sep 23: “Berkeley, Calif. (AP) — Dozens of homes lay in ashes in the exclusive Berkeley Hills area today from the worst of a rash of fires that erupted up and down hot, dry California. Officials would not estimate the damage here but said it was the worst East Bay fire since 1923, when a major blaze caused a $10 million property loss. Fire officials reported 37 homes destroyed and 12 damaged Tuesday [Sep 22] as flames roared over more than 200 acres east of the University of California….Other fires burned brush and trees across the state.

 

“The Berkeley fire began as a blaze in some grass on the east side of a ridge behind the city. Within eight minutes it was roaring over Grizzly Peak Boulevard and licking down into heavily wooded canyons, destroying exclusive homes nestled among the trees and burning out the cable to radio station KPFA-FM, putting it off the air….

 

“…400 children [were evacuated] from two elementary schools. Some 300 regular firemen fought the sprawling, leaping blazes, which took six hours to bring under control.

 

“Oakland fore officials said there was some possibility of arson…” (AP. “Berkeley: Worst Since ʹ23.” Times Standard, Eureka, CA, 9-23-1970, p. 1.)

 

Sources

 

Argus, Fremont, CA. “Residents return to ruins.” 9-28-1970, p. 3. Accessed 10-5-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/argus-sep-28-1970-p-3/?tag

 

Associated Press. “Berkeley: Worst Since ʹ23.” Times Standard, Eureka, CA, 9-23-1970, p. 1. Accessed 10-5-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/eureka-times-standard-sep-23-1970-p-1/?tag

 

Associated Press. “Death Toll Now 10.” Progress-Bulletin, Pomona, CA. 9-30-1970, A2. Accessed 10-5-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/pomona-progress-bulletin-sep-30-1970-p-118/?tag

 

Associated Press. “Major Fires.” The Times Standard, Eureka, CA, 9-28-1970, p. 1. Accessed 10-5-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/eureka-times-standard-sep-28-1970-p-1/?tag

 

Barlay, Stephen. Fire: An International Report. Brattleboro, VT: Stephen Greene Press, 1973.

 

Gabbert, Bill. “The Laguna Fire, 45 years ago today.” Wildfiretoday.com, 9-26-2015. Accessed 10-5-2017 at: http://wildfiretoday.com/tag/1970-fires/

 

Rowley, Dale D. The Fires that created an Incident Management System. No date. Accessed 10-5-2017 at: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.607.6921&rep=rep1&type=pdf

 

United Press International. “Last of State Fires Quelled.” Bakersfield Californian, 10-5-1970, p. 6. Accessed 10-5-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/bakersfield-californian-oct-05-1970-p-6/?tag

 

United Press International. “Winds die, record fire may be contained soon.” Lompoc Record, CA, 9-29-1970, p. 1. Accessed 10-5-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/lompoc-record-sep-29-1970-p-1/?tag

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1] Associated Press. “Major Fires.” The Times Standard, Eureka, CA, 9-28-1970, p. 1.

[2] Associated Press. “Death Toll Now 10.” Progress-Bulletin, Pomona, CA. 9-30-1970, A2. Victims identified as Joseph Earl Wathen and his wife Marguerita Wathen.

[3] United Press International. “Winds die, record fire may be contained soon.” Lompoc Record, CA, 9-29-1970, p. 1. Four men were being ferried to a fire in San Gabriel Canyon when helicopter crashed killing them and the pilot. (Associated Press. “Death Toll Now 10.” Progress-Bulletin, Pomona, CA. 9-30-1970, A2.)

[4] Cites California Aflame, p. 3.