This page is referenced by:

• 1 2022-09-26T12:50:45-07:00 Topanga Canyon Brush Fire 1958 8 plain 2023-01-03T11:56:38-08:00
  This photo depicts several wooden beehives and a hillside in the background engulfed in smoke and flames. This was only a small part of the Topanga Canyon Brush Fire that caused thousands to flee their homes on New Year’s Eve, 1958. The Topanga Canyon Brush Fire began on the morning of Wednesday, December 31 and advanced rapidly 10 miles down the canyon towards the ocean “fanned by 60-mile-an-hour winds.”[1] By nightfall, an estimated 10,000 acres had been blackened and 80 homes were destroyed, most located in Fernwood, a small community in Topanga Canyon.[2] One thousand fire fighters were dispatched that Wednesday night reinforced by 500 military personnel to fight the fire only to be “outdistanced and overwhelmed, by the speed of the blaze.”[3] One fire captain interviewed that night stated that, “There’s too much wind, too low humidity, and too much fire.”[4] As the massive force of 1500 men worked tirelessly fighting the blaze to no avail, The Hartford Courant reported that the fire “subsided unexpectedly as winds dropped to nearly a standstill.”[5] The devastating brush fire was suspected to have started due to arson and two boys were blamed for the start of the smaller Benedict Hills Fire that erupted only hours after the Topanga Canyon Fire consuming 350 acres and burning one home.
   

  ---

  [1] “BRUSH FIRES IN CALIFORNIA CALM DOWN: Complete Control of Two Blazes Is Believed Near”, The Sun (January 2, 1959).
  [2] “Topanga Canyon Fire”, Los Angeles Times (January 1, 1959).
  
  [3] “Brush Fire Subsides As Wind Drops”, The Hartford Courant (January 2, 1959).
  
  [4] “2 Boys Blamed For Brush Fire Razing 80 Homes”, New York Herald Tribune (January 3, 1959).
  
  [5] “Thousands Flee Coast Brush Fire”, The Hartford Courant (January 1, 1959).