As of September 11, an estimated 3,354,000 acres had burned in California, marking the most damaging wildfire season in recorded state history, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
L.A. County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl noted in her weekly note to constituents that fire risk is extremely high throughout L.A. County, which of course is no surprise to anyone following the news.
She warned: “Residents living in urban-wildlife interface communities should be especially vigilant: regularly monitor the news, have an evacuation plan, and be prepared to leave your home if needed. If you are notified to evacuate, please do not hesitate and leave immediately. If you do need to evacuate, remember the 6 P’s and have your “Go” bag (emergency-preparedness) ready.
- People and pets
- Papers, pictures, phone numbers, and important documents
- Prescription medications and eyeglasses
- Personal computer
- Personal assistive devices (wheelchair, cane, walker, etc.)
- Plastic (credit cards and ATM cards) and cash
(Editor’s note: Lifelong resident and Rotary Club member John Wilson wrote about the year 1978, when much of Pacific Palisades might have burned to the ground had the winds not shifted in mid-afternoon.)
The fire raged in the hills above Pacific Palisades.
By JOHN WILSON
October 23, 1978, 9:41 a.m. The Santa Ana winds had been blowing for several days and everyone was on edge. Suicides had gone up and violent encounters increased markedly during this hot, windy weather.
The first call came in at 9:41 a.m. to the Los Angeles City Fire Dispatch Center. The dispatcher switched his radio mike on and broadcasted: “Mountain Patrol and Units concerned. A report of a brush fire in the mountain area on Mulholland Highway at the 405 Freeway. Stations 71, 19, 59, 108, 109, battalion 9, battalion 10, dozer 108, fire 4, fire 5….”
These words had special meaning to our firemen. They knew that homes would burn and possibly lives would be lost over the next 24 hours.
They were right. Eventually, 60 homes were destroyed in Brentwood and Pacific Palisades, along with the Chapel at St. Matthew’s Church and part of the Mill Building. Additionally, several buildings at the Boy Scout Camp Josepho in Rustic Canyon were destroyed.
We, however, got lucky: no one died. We got lucky because as the roaring fire approached Sunset Boulevard, the Santa Ana wind died and a sweet ocean breeze swept over us in mid-afternoon.
During this time, I was a Deputy Los Angeles City Attorney whose job it was, among others, to advise the code enforcement section of the Los Angeles City Fire Department. I had the opportunity to attend a post-analysis seminar conducted to critique the Fire Department’s actions during this fire.
The Command Staff was both laudatory and brutal in their critiques. The good and the bad all came out, but in the end, everyone agreed that, but for the wind change, the Palisades would have looked a lot different the next day.
Certainly, the wind, the delays in dispatching certain mutual-aid fire trucks, and shake roofing material on houses was reviewed and highlighted.
But the big focus was upon the citizens of Pacific Palisades.
The analysis showed that some homeowners were just plain lazy, or fatalistic, about cleaning the combustible brush away from their homes. One homeowner just flat-out refused to clean the brush around her house because it was too beautiful to destroy.
One scientist calculated that if an acre of mountain brush were to burn it would generate enough energy to equal a one megaton bomb going off. I have had the experience to feel this energy and I have watched how destructive it can be. Add the fact that a good wind will blow embers a mile downwind, and that when a large fire gets going, it often creates its own weather system.
Sometimes, the fire will pull all the oxygen out of a canyon as it creates a firestorm above the canyon. I experienced that in the Bel-Air fire in 1961, which destroyed 480 homes.
We know, of course, that many people can perish in runaway brush and forest fires. It happens every summer in our western states, and back in 1933, 33 firemen died and 150 were injured while fighting a brush fire close to here.
Thus, fair warning, Pacific Palisades. Now is the time to act. Don’t tell me you are too old to clear the brush around your property. Hire someone or call your local City Councilman for suggestions.
Do it now! Do it before some nut starts playing with matches in the hills above you.
The 1978 Fire raged in the Santa Monica Mountains above Palisades High School.
Or some kid lights a firecracker and tosses it down the bluff and starts a brush fire like what happened along Via Las Osas 2 nights ago!!
Been trying to get the brush cleared for over a year in the Marquez Canyon.
That first photo is Virginia Maecherlein standing in front of her house on Mandeville Canyon Road, near the Narrows, as the flames came down the ridge into her backyard during the 1978 fire.
It was first published in the 1979 Pali year book and I assume the photographer was a Pali student. This photo was taken either just before or just after I left with all her valuables, including her kids, in her station wagon. It was an experience I will never, ever forget. She insisted on staying behind and had watered down the roof well enough that the house was saved.