La Tuna Canyon Wildfire – 1977

Forty-seven years ago, almost to the day, we experienced a wildfire on the north side of the Verdugo Mountains above La Tuna Canyon Road. It was a fast moving fire, driven by winds, and the event included some dangerous helicopter action.

It was a typically hot late July with temps near 100. As is often the case, several brush fires were going on at the same time. Hillsides in Corona, Ventura and Hemet were all blazing, and fire fighters were stretched thin. Santa Barbara had been particularly hit hard with nearly 250 homes destroyed in a wildfire. Exacerbating the situation was a water shortage and outdoor watering restrictions were in place, making things tinder dry. Southern California Edison was asking customers to cut back on electrical load because of high air conditioning demand. (In other words, things were the same then as they are now!)

At that time the 210 Freeway was still under construction from Lowell Avenue north. At 12:45 p.m., an unknown source started a brush fire at the intersection of La Tuna Canyon and the unfinished 210, which quickly spread to 500 acres. The fire was pushed along by a mild Santa Ana wind.

The various agencies jumped in immediately. Responding were over 400 firefighters with 70 pieces of equipment from Los Angeles city and county fire departments and Glendale Fire Dept. The fire quickly spread through heavy underbrush on the north face of the Verdugo Mountains. As smoke began to obscure approaches to that area, the California Highway Patrol closed the portions of the 210 that were already open in La Crescenta. As the fire spread it created its own winds, with updrafts gusting to 50 miles per hour.

Some of the first on the scene were cousins and county firefighters Willie and Danny Sanchez. Because the fire spread so quickly, they were nearly trapped. One of them stated, “We were up there and all of a sudden it came over the hill. We had to be picked up by a truck. The flames were all around us, like an oven. We were toasted!”

Six water-dropping helicopters joined the fight. Two of the helicopters had a near miss when they both approached a column of smoke from different angles. They veered off at the last second avoiding a deadly collision.

Not as lucky was pilot Frank Pinos, piloting a big Bell 205 helicopter, the civilian version of the iconic “Huey” helicopter we are familiar with from the Vietnam War. Pinos had just made a water-drop on a patch of flames. When he went to pull away, the helicopter suddenly lost power and went spiraling down to the ground. The aircraft slammed down hard, fortunately in an area that hadn’t burned. Pinos, who was alone on the helicopter, managed to get the door of the helicopter open and jumped out. He was able to run from the wreckage but he only made it about 40 feet before he collapsed to the ground.

He was rescued by nearby firefighters and transported to the then-new Verdugo Hills Hospital. Pinos was admitted to the intensive care unit with several fractured vertebrae and internal injuries. The $500,000 helicopter was a total loss.

As the fire spread along La Tuna Canyon, a Red Cross evacuation center was set up for the canyon residents. Fortunately the firefighters were able to keep the flames from consuming any homes. Fire crews quickly established a control line around much of the blaze and by 8 p.m. that night, the fire was declared 80% contained. By morning total containment was achieved. About 100 men stayed on the scene to mop up and deal with any flare-ups.

Readers may remember that this is the same area that burned in a much larger fire in 2017. That fire consumed over 7,000 acres and destroyed several homes. To my untrained eye, that section of La Tuna Canyon looks ready to burn again. It’s a seemingly endless cycle.