This Month In Cal OES History: 1985 Statewide Fires
When conditions are ripe, California can become a raging inferno. That's exactly what happened 31 years ago this month, and is eerily similar to what is occurring currently in the central and southern parts of the state.
Fires burning in seven different counties – San Diego, Los Angeles, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Ventura – accounted for three deaths and injured 470 in 1985. Among the injured were 346 firefighters.
The fires consumed more than 357,000 acres, destroyed 215 homes and damaged 131 homes and businesses and 71 miscellaneous structures and vehicles.
The Normal Heights Fire in the Mission Valley canyons of San Diego was fueled by heavy brush and strong winds. Burning 300 acres, destroying 76 houses and damaging 57 others, the reported damage was $9 million.
Approximately 400 firefighters – including 40 off duty from the San Diego Fire Department – and 98 engines responded to the fire, which forced the evacuation of up to 1,500 residents. Additional mutual aid came from Ventura, Imperial, Riverside and Orange counties.
Flames barreling through four Southern California counties destroyed at least 64 homes in San Diego County and scorched nearly 30,000 acres in Riverside, Los Angeles and Ventura counties
Also in July that year, two residents died and another 11 were injured when 52 homes were engulfed by a fire in the Los Angeles residential neighborhood of Baldwin Hills.
In San Luis Obispo, the Las Pilitas Fire consumed 75,000 acres and burned 10 homes. With temperatures above 100 degrees, a hot piece of carbon from a car exhaust ignited dry grass along Las Pilitas road, similar to what occurred during the Park Hill Fire in 2015.
The Santa Cruz Mountains were surrounded by a lightning-caused blaze, referred to as the Lexington Fire, forcing as many as 4,000 residents to abandon their homes and cabins. The Lexington Fire was fanned by wind gusts of 30-40 mph in the mountains of Santa Clara and Santa Cruz as nearly 700 firefighters battled the blaze.
Overnight, the Rat Fire in Monterey County expanded from 3,000 to almost 12,000 acres near Big Sur. Also caused by lightning, the fire was dealing with the same type of strong winds as the Lexington Fire.
The Wheeler Canyon Fire near Ventura was the worst of the wildfires during that stretch. The brush fire above Wheeler Hot Springs burned for 15 days, destroyed 120,000 acres and required the assistance of more than 3,000 firefighters.
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