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California Burning: Photographs from the Los Angeles Examiner

Warner Brothers Studio Fire (Burbank), 1952

This image depicts a Warner Brothers Studio fire that broke out in the summer of 1952. The fire, beginning around three o’clock in the afternoon of July 9, demolished millions of dollars’ worth of sets and props before igniting the nearby Hollywood Hills. While firefighters extinguished the fire on the studio lot within a few hours, the flames on the hillside continued to burn, eventually jumping the dried-out Los Angeles River and burning additional slopes in the San Fernando Valley. An estimated sixty acres burned in total [1]. While the brush fire did not damage any property, the damages to studio property totaled between 4,500,000 to 6,000,000 dollars. Studio officials first noticed the fire at the boat dock located at the south end of the lot. The fire then moved to destroy a vast metal hangar storing prop and real airplanes. Also destroyed were several trains, some of which were considered antique and rare. Perhaps the biggest loss to the studio was the property shed, in which thirty years of accumulated movie props were burned [2]. The fire did more than damage property, however. One firefighter was severely affected from smoke inhalation and twenty studio employees suffered from minor burns [3]. Arsonists were speculated to have ignited the fire. Arson-squad officers investigated this possibility, noting that it appeared the fire broke out in two separate locations simultaneously. Additionally, Sgt. Ed Hatcher reported that there was no apparent material at the sight of ignition that would have accidentally caught fire. The head of the Warner Brothers security force, Blaney Matthews, also admitted to the South China Morning Post that this fire, as well as a previous studio fire from May of the same year, were the result of arson [4]. Detectives took into custody four juveniles who were spotted close to the studio fence before the flames broke out. The four were later released, and the culprit(s) remained unknown [5].

[1] “Movie Sets Razed in California Fire,” New York Times, (July 10, 1952), 26.

[2] “Arson Suspected in Screen Studio Fire,” The Austin Statesman, (July 10, 1952), A5.

[3] “Fire Sweeps Warner Brothers Movie Studio,” Chicago Daily Tribune, (July 10, 1952), 3.

[4] “Arson Suspected: Severe Damage in Studio of Warner Bros.,” South China Morning Post, (July 12, 1952), 10.

[5] “Arson Suspected in Screen Studio Fire,” The Austin Statesman, (July 10, 1952), A5.

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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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