47 Years Ago Today: Laurel Canyon Ablaze

Monday, July 10, 2006 | Posted by LAFD Media and Public Relations

With the Los Angeles Fire Department's annual Brush Clearance Program well in effect, residents of America's second-largest municipality breath quiet relief that wildfire has yet to take hold in LA's combustible hillsides.

Some have gone so far as to suggest that major wildfires never strike Los Angeles this early in the year. In that, they would be mistaken.

The Laurel Canyon fire of July 10, 1959 was a major emergency that levied a serious impact on our Department and those we serve.

While our predecessors description of the fire reminds us of omnipresent danger, it also expresses the resolve and ambition that remains to this day among the men and women who seek to deliver what some then called 'man made miracles'.

Submitted by Brian Humphrey, Spokesman
Los Angeles Fire Department

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2 comments:

David Barrett said...

My father lost his home in the Laurel Canyon fire. It was his first home that he purchased shortly after winning his first Academy Award for "A Time Out of War." He went to work, and when he came home, the house was gone, the chimney was the only standing component of the home - and all that remained of Oscar was the stand and his feet. He kept the burned out statue for years (although the Academy replaced it).

It was a remarkable event - and I looked through the images of the rubble often as a kid. Today, there is nothing left to remind us - so the story was timely and valuable.

I believe the home of Houdini was nearly destroyed in the same blaze... (although it is a mile further down the canyon) I do remember as a boy driving up and down Laurel Canyon and seeing the remains of his home...

Wednesday, July 12, 2006 8:08:00 AM  
marsuz said...

I so remember the ashes billowing and landing on our home on Outpost Cove Dr. that day. My parents went to the valley to watch the disaster on television..... It was a good thing the four of us weren't scared.

Wednesday, October 31, 2012 9:51:00 PM  

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