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California Burning: Photographs from the Los Angeles Examiner

Topanga Canyon Brush Fire 1958

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).

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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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