Fireman Turn Arsonist John Orr and the College Hills Fire

A few weeks ago I gave an overview of one of the strangest plot twists in local history. Glendale Fire Captain John Orr, a highly respected arson investigator, was found to be the most prolific serial arsonist in U.S. history, setting an estimated 2,000 fires from 1984 until 1991. This is the story of the College Hills Fire in 1990, in which an entire neighborhood was burned, similar (although much smaller) to the recent Eaton and Palisades fires.

College Hills sits in the hills and canyons of the San Rafael Hills, just south of Glendale Community College and east of Verdugo Road. Most of the upscale homes were built in the 1960s. On June 27, 1990, the normal “June Gloom” had given way to a blast of summer temps, 110 degrees with Santa Ana winds blowing. At 3:24 p.m. a call came into the Glendale Fire Dept. that a fast moving brush fire was heading up the hillside from Verdugo Road.

The fire swept up the slope in seconds and by the time firefighters arrived two homes were already in flames. They immediately designated it a “three alarm fire,” meaning that 16 firetrucks from Glendale, Burbank and Pasadena were dispatched. The wind-driven fire was leaping across the neighborhood so within minutes the radio called for firetrucks from all over the greater LA area.

Just like in the recent Eaton Fire, the firemen couldn’t get ahead of the wind-blown flames as they jumped from house to house. Firefighters described the flames as fanning across the houses “like a flamethrower.” Soon fireballs were flying east across the 2 Freeway and into the houses on the other side. Volatile wood shake roofs, popular in that era, were bursting into flame.

The wail of sirens grew loud as firefighters from all over LA converged on the scene. It was utter chaos on the streets. Fire engines pulled in anywhere they could, sometimes blocking people trying to flee. Firemen were often overwhelmed, playing their hoses on one house while houses on either side burned unattended. Civilian volunteers ran from house to house, banging on doors to make sure everyone was out. Many residents tried to squirt water from garden hoses on their burning homes while others tried to stop advancing flames by shoveling dirt on them.

One mother had left her 15-month-old triplets under the care of her 13-year-old twin daughters while she was at work in Century City. She talked to her terrified daughters on the phone telling them to be ready to evacuate as soon as the firemen told them to. She fought her way through traffic and careened past parked firetrucks and over charged hoses. When she reached her house she could see it was gone and none of the firefighters around had seen her kids. She was now blocked in so she just started walking through charred wreckage until she spotted her triplets’ stroller abandoned in the street. Distraught, she kept walking through flames. Her skirt caught fire and she passed out. She awoke on the lawn of a house with its roof on fire. Dazed, she went inside the house to use their phone. She found that her kids had been evacuated by a neighbor.

Fire Captain John Orr had been on the scene from the beginning. The firemen on the first engine to arrive were surprised to see him already there, sifting through the burned brush. Another neighbor spotted him near the fire’s origin just before flames erupted. One of the first fire captains on the scene spotted Orr standing next to his car among the smoke and confusion. Orr offered his help and was directed to grab a hose and start working. Instead Orr entered a house on fire, covered a couch with a tarp, then left and drove away. The captain said later that Orr seemed “agitated and not in control of what he was doing.” Sixty seven homes were destroyed that day  – the worst in Glendale history.

In 1998 Orr was convicted of this fire and others, including a fire that took four lives. He’s in prison now, serving life with no possibility of parole.