The Mill -

Mutual Aid Origins:

A rash of major brush fires swept though portions of Southern California during late November and early December, destroying more than 100 sq. mi. of timber and watershed cover and two dozen structures, mostly dwellings.

It combined the efforts of over 2,500 firefighters. 200 pieces of fire appartus, a dozen tractors, 14 helicopters, seven fixed-wing aircraft and coordinated administration never before seen in Souther California wildland fires.

And, it took rain. The first sizeable percipitation of the year fell on the fifth day and aided considerably in knocking off remaining hot spots on two major fires.

Dry weather - and the winds - soon returned, however, bringing other fires in counties adjacent to Los Angeles.

The fires weren't new to firefighters in Southern California. They've experienced disastrous brush fires for years, and largely because of them, have devised a mutual aid system in the state which is the envy of most of the nation.

After the fires of 1970 which destroyed over 100 homes in L.A. County alone, some long-awaited federal money finally was poured into research projects to determine what better means could be taken to coordinate efforts to control these wind-fanned fires.

FIRESCOPE BORNE

The FIRESCOPE project, standing for FIre REsources of Southern California Organized for Potential Emergency, involved establishing a common terminology between fire agencies, and set up a system for more coordinated communications and deployment.

When units and men from a number of agencies are brought into an unfamiliar area, they often find themselves sitting and awaiting for orders - while homes a mile away went up in flames.

The task-force concept embodied a unit plan, where a chief officer was assigned to every five engine companies - and that unit comprised a Strike Team. They took on an identifiation number and always remained as a unit.

Their commander had radio commuication with the command post - though the individual units might not. Every movement was reported to a "status" dispatcher who could feed information to the men running the fire at the command post.

"This was the best coordinated major fire we've ever experienced in this are," was the opinon of Richard Montague, fire management officer for the Angeles National Forest. "We mutually planned our responsibilities, we assigned definite suppression boundaries for individual agencies, and we coordinated the over-all effort.

"We anticipated what the fire would do and were ready for it," he said. "We lost homes because fire apparatus got bottle up in areas where the vegetation practically covered the structures and in a fire storm, made the driveways and roads impassible."

Montague said he was either in personal contact, or a moment away by radio or phone, from Chief Engineer Richard H. Houts of the Los Angeles County Fire Dept. and Chief Engineer Kenneth Long of the Los Angeles City Fire Dept., during the entire period of the Mill and Village fires.

These were the two, in L.A. County, that burned simultaeously, and covered more than 100 sq. mi.

The first, the Mill, broke out on Saturday, November 22 at 1313 hrs., in Mill Creek, along the Angeles Forest Highway, 10 mi. north of the City of Glendale. U.S. Forest Service crews picked up the fire and it was contained at 1800 hrs.

Residents flee as firefighters move in. This photo was taken in daylight; heavy smoke gives night appearance. (Photo by Rick McClure)

Sunday morning, four separate spot fires broke out over a small ridge from the earlier blaze, but were contained quickly. At 1100 hours, another spot erupted - and now fanned by increasing winds, spread rapidly south and west.

An indication of the increasing winds shows in the increase in rate of spread. By noon, an hour after discovery, the fire covered 41 acres. An hour later, 173 acre. by 1530 hours, it had blossomed into a full-scale wildland fire, now ever 3,000 acres. (See chart).

The Los Angeles County Fire Dept. had dispatched helicopters, men and apparatus.

Montague was confident, that with weather forecasts calling for gusts over 70 mph, they were not going to stop the Mill fire before it got into homes, still many miles aways.

COMMAND MEETING

At dusk, Montague met with Houts and Long. Houts not only represented his department, but acted as the regional fire coordinator for the State Office of Emergency Services, and the State division of forestry.

The fire was sectioned off and responsibilities delegated for particular areas.

The City and County would take the "front cover," protecting the thousands of homes in the Angeles Forest foothills. The forest Service would take the major perimeter, in the "back country."

The fire commanders started amassing fire forces.

An L.A. County firefighter "fires out" rugged area to help stop advancing fire. (L.A. County F.D. photo)

Office of Emergency Service fire apparatus - units owned by the state but manned by individual departments - were ordered to mobilize and respond.

The City and County dispatched units in a strike-team concept. Off-duty chief officers were recalled to provide additional strike-team leaders for out-of-area units moving in.

The Division of Forestry started crews from as far north as Merced, in Central California, 500 miles away.

By midnight, the Mill fire had whipped down Big Tujunga Canyon toward the populated areas, and devastated 18,000 acres. During the period around 1800 hours, the fire consumed an estimated 179 acres of fuel a minute!

SECOND FIRE

A second fire had broken out in the Angeles Forest, at the resort community of Mt. Baldy, to the east of the Mill fire. This blaze started in a cabin and quickly spread to timber and brush.

Forest Service and County men and units were dispatched to this fire - at 1338 hours. Ninety minutes later, this blaze had consumed 250 acreas and was a major fire.

If not checked, it threatened to move into the foothills above the San Gabriel Valley, dotted heavily with homes and ranches.

Assistant L.A. County Fire Chief Ronald King, and Forest Service Fire Mangement Officer Myron Lee from the Cleveland Forest in San Diego, took charge of this second blaze.

Mutual aid companies, now responding in from throughout Southern California, were directed to one of the two fires.

At the Mill fire, the L. A. City Fire Dept. started amassing equipment from Big Tujunga Canyon west. In all, 96 engines were assigned - in five-engine strike teams.

The County - including agencies in the mutual aid zone such as Glendale and Burbank, threatened by the fire - took the front country east of Big "T."

Flames move toward structures as firefighters prepare for battle. (Photo by Mike Meadows). Below: L.A. City F.D. awaits orders to move-in. (Photo by Rick McClure)

INTO HOMES

About midnight, the fire spread quickly into the La Crescenta residential area of Glendale. Fire Chief Allan Stone had moved companies to protect the structures.

The fire boiled down Ward Canyon and into the houses, most nearly covered with heavy brush and trees.

A task force had moved into a ranch and successfully saved the buildings despite a whirling fire storm. But as they moved to keep pace with the fire, they were bottled in by burning and falling tree limbs and flames.

Before additional units could be moved in, two dozen houses were ignited; 11 were lost.

City fire companies battled the flames in the Tujunga and Sunland areas, and lost one home. Six others were damaged.

The wind again peaked, with gusts estimated at 70-90 mph, at day break, with the fire consuming 13,000 acres in a three-hour period.

Because of the winds, use of fixed-wing aircraft was unsafe. But, City and County helicopters kept dumping water.

The major structural threat from the Mill fire was over by nightfall Monday, but crews continued to work in the rugged back country until Wednesday when the rains came.

At the Village fire, Tuesday was the "big" day, with the fire spotting and jumping up to a half-mile ahead. Numerous cabins and homes were evacuated.

NEED RADIO CHANNELS

Montague and Houts agreed that the biggest single drawback to a better coordinated attack was the lack of adequate radio channels to permit each strike team commander to talk by radio with his units.

Also, a command frequency which would permit section commanders to talk without interferring with other radio traffic is essential.

Again, these needs are not new. They have been identified after every major fire, but money for necessary equipment and adequate available channels has been a deterant.

SUMMARY

Mill fire: 175 fire trucks, 1,950 men, 67 fire crews, 15 helicopters, 14 tractors; total acreage, 47,393; fire perimeter, 111.7 miles.

Village fire: 114 fire engines, 2,000 men, 85 fire crews, 7 helicopters, 6 fixed-wing aircraft, 4 tractors; total acreage, 17,186; fire perimeter, 55.1 miles.

Firefighters protect mobile cinema van, containing equipment, as flames eat through trees, brush. (Photo by Lance Maillis)

Dispatch Logs show rapid spread of brush fires

The rate of spread of the two major fires in Los Angeles County, both of which threatened numerous homes, is shown in these excerpts from dispatch logs maintained by the Los Angeles County Fire Department. The initial "M" indicates action on the Mill Fire; "V" indicates action in the Villiage Fire.

(Vol. 28, No.2, February 1976 of the Western Fire Journal)