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California Burning: Photographs from the Los Angeles Examiner

Lake Hughes Fire, 1953

This photograph depicts a hill in the Sawmill Mountain area in the Angeles National Forest, about 27 miles from the University of Southern California’s University Park campus. In the photo, a fire rages nearby, causing the unpaved hiking trail leading up the hill to eerily fade into thick smoke that blends into the colorless sky. In the early hours of August 24, 1953, a dry, windy morning turned a small blaze – which had started when heavy brush in the Sawmill Mountain area caught fire – into a roaring inferno.[1] An on-the-spot unit of the National Weather Service reported southerly winds at speeds upwards of 40 miles per hour, a forecast of about 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and a relative humidity index of 10 percent.[2] These weather conditions were unfavorable to the initial team of 325 men – 225 from the Forest Service and 100 from the Los Angeles County Fire Department – who had begun efforts to control the fire at 2:30 AM.[3] According to Lee Berryman, a U.S. district ranger, the initial effort to control the fire began with a plan to surround it before it could spread.[4]

The Los Angeles Times reported that when it became clear that the fire was at risk of getting out of control, the U.S. Forest Service called for “hotshot” crews (crews specially trained to manage the hottest parts of difficult fires) from various areas to aid the 325 men in their efforts.[5] By the next day, more than 400 firefighters banded together in an attempt to contain the wildfire, which had already destroyed nearly 900 acres of forest.[6] As the fire spread northeast, it spilled across a ridge, threatening 25 homes in a residential area of Lake Hughes (five miles away from where the fire started and where the 21-mile Sawmill Mountain hiking trail ends).[7] The next day, two days after the fire had initially broken out, firefighters ended up getting the fire under control through a combination of surrounding the blaze, pumping water, and using heavy machinery such as tank trucks.[8] However, in the end, the fire had burned more than 1,300 acres.[9]

[1] ANGELES FOREST FIRE OUT OF CONTROL, Los Angeles Times (Aug 24, 1953), 1

[2] 400 BATTLE FIRE IN ANGELES, Los Angeles Times (Aug 25, 1953), 1

[3] ANGELES FOREST FIRE OUT OF CONTROL, Los Angeles Times (Aug 24, 1953), 1

[4] ANGELES FOREST FIRE OUT OF CONTROL, Los Angeles Times (Aug 24, 1953), 1

[5] ANGELES FOREST FIRE OUT OF CONTROL, Los Angeles Times (Aug 24, 1953), 1

[6] 400 BATTLE FIRE IN ANGELES, Los Angeles Times (Aug 25, 1953), 1

[7] 400 BATTLE FIRE IN ANGELES, Los Angeles Times (Aug 25, 1953), 1

[8] Two More Brush Fires Break Out: Danger Held Slight, Los Angeles Times (Aug 26, 1953), 2; 400 BATTLE FIRE IN ANGELES, Los Angeles Times (Aug 25, 1953), 1; ANGELES FOREST FIRE OUT OF CONTROL, Los Angeles Times (Aug 24, 1953), 1

[9] Two More Brush Fires Break Out: Danger Held Slight, Los Angeles Times (Aug 26, 1953), 2; 400 BATTLE FIRE IN ANGELES, Los Angeles Times (Aug 25, 1953), 1

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3. Brush fire (Rio Hondo fire), 1951 Depicted is a brush fire emerging in Rio Hondo, a tributary of Los Angeles County whose name derives from the 'deep river' - Rio Hondo - that runs parallel to the San Gabriel River. Even as an area of land named after a body of water, fires still manage to ravage the land, and the efforts to mitigate this state of emergency caused no shortage of worry and damage. The fire spread rapidly through the brushes upon it's kindling, burning more than 50 acres of land and damaging two houses within a few hours [1]. The dry climate helped propagate the fire and spread embers to rooftops where the smoldering did most of its damage [5]. While the fire fortunately maintained itself within the riverbed [4], it didn't make the lives of the Los Angeles Fire Department easy. They had to storm together a 10 unit battalion that aggregated teams from Whitter and the State Department of Forestry to contain the flame. Shown in the image is the efforts of the fire department mobilizing to eliminate the flame. To that end they were able to shut down the fire in two hours, even deploying tractors with dozer blades in order to eliminate the immediate presence of fuel. While the nature of the fire was calmed quickly, quantifiable amounts of damage were done to the surroundings, and fire fighters were dispatched throughout the night to ensure embers didn't form again [1]. Fires like these continued to strike the area, and in 2005, volunteers and Angeles Chapter Staff came together to form a campaign called the Emerald Necklace which aims to plant trees and brushes that reinstate the park experience that perhaps once existed in the area [6].
4. Chatsworth Brush Fires, 1957
14. Warner Brothers Studio Fire (Burbank), 1952

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Lake Hughes fire, 1953