The Laguna Fire, previously known as the Kitchen Creek Fire and the Boulder Oaks Fire, was a 175,425-acre wildfire that burned from September 22, 1970 to October 4, 1970, in the

Laguna Mountains The Laguna Mountains are a mountain range of the Peninsular Ranges System in eastern San Diego County, southern California. The mountains run in a northwest/southeast alignment for approximately . The mountains have long been inhabited by the i ...

and East County region of

San Diego County San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634, making it California's second-most populous county and the f ...

, in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. It was the third-largest

wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identi ...

in the history of

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

at that time, after the Santiago Canyon Fire of 1889, and the Matilija Fire of 1932. It was one of many wildfires in a massive conflagration that spanned across the state from September 22 to October 4, 1970. The Laguna Fire of 1970 caused at least $234 million (1970 USD) in damages, including $5.6 million of damage to residential property.

History

The Laguna fire was started by downed power lines during

Santa Ana winds The Santa Ana winds (sometimes devil winds) "Scholars who have looked into the name's origins generally agree that it derives from Santa Ana Canyon, the portal where the Santa Ana River -- as well as a congested Riverside (CA-91) Freeway -- leav ...

in the Kitchen Creek area of the

on the morning of September 26, 1970. In only 24 hours, it burned westward about to the outskirts of

El Cajon El Cajon ( , ; Spanish: El Cajón, meaning "the box") is a city in San Diego County, California, United States, east of downtown San Diego. The city takes its name from Rancho El Cajón, which was in turn named for the box-like shape of the va ...

and Spring Valley. The fire devastated the communities of Harbison Canyon and Crest. In the end, the fire burned and 382 homes, killing 16 people, before it was contained on October 4, 1970. The Laguna Fire was surpassed as the third-largest fire in California history by the

Cedar Fire The Cedar Fire was a massive, highly-destructive wildfire, which burned of land in San Diego County, California, San Diego County, California, during October and November 2003. The fire's rapid growth was driven by the Santa Ana wind, causing ...

in October 2003. It was surpassed as the fourth-largest by the

Witch Creek Fire The Witch Creek Fire, also known as the Witch Fire and the Witch-Guejito–Poomacha Complex Fire, was the second-largest wildfire of the 2007 California wildfire season, and the largest one of the October 2007 California wildfires. Although the ...

in October 2007.

Aerial firefighting issue

At a time when high

grounded other firefighting aircraft, a representative of Canadair brought a CL-215 to southern California to demonstrate its capabilities in

aerial firefighting Aerial may refer to: Music * ''Aerial'' (album), by Kate Bush * ''Aerials'' (song), from the album ''Toxicity'' by System of a Down Bands *Aerial (Canadian band) * Aerial (Scottish band) * Aerial (Swedish band) Performance art * Aerial sil ...

. He was turned away by firefighting officials. Nevertheless, while other firefighting aircraft were unable to fly safely he operated his " Super Scooper" out of El Capitan Reservoir and dropped water on the Laguna Fire wherever he saw fit. The firefighting officials were unimpressed, and such aircraft were not used again in Southern California to fight fires until the San Bernardino National Forest used one in 2013 to fight the Lytle Fire, when other aircraft were grounded. With the exception of two CL-415s leased by Los Angeles County during the fire season, the CL-215 and CL-415 are rarely used.

Wildfire suppression changes

In the wake of the fire, some

wildfire suppression Wildfire suppression is a range of firefighting tactics used to suppress wildfires. Firefighting efforts in wild land areas require different techniques, equipment, and training from the more familiar structure fire fighting found in populated ...

policies were changed. Congress directed the establishment of the Modular Airborne FireFighting System (MAFFS) which would allow military transport aircraft to be able to respond to wildfires if the commercial air tankers are unavailable or committed elsewhere.MAFFS system description, U.S. Forest Service web site
Retardant is generally ineffective when dropped from air where winds are blowing down a hill (

foehn wind A Foehn or Föhn (, , ), is a type of dry, relatively warm, downslope wind that occurs in the lee (downwind side) of a mountain range. It is a rain shadow wind that results from the subsequent adiabatic warming of air that has dropped most of ...

event) from 45–70 mph. The retardant gets intermixed with the wind and is dispersed, thus it never reaches its intended target. This makes Southern California unique when fighting fires from the sky, during a Santa Ana wind event.

References

External links

*
Southern California's Worst Brush Fires
{{California wildfires Wildfires in San Diego County, California 1970 fires in the United States 1970 in California 1970s wildfires in the United States Laguna Mountains East County (San Diego County) 1970 natural disasters in the United States

History

Aerial firefighting issue

Wildfire suppression changes

See also

References

External links