LAGUNA FIRE MADE HISTORY 50 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK

Before the firestorms of the 2003 and 2007, the 1970 Laguna fire was San Diego County’s most destructive wildfire.

The blaze ignited on Sept. 26, 1970, when powerful winds toppled power lines off Kitchen Creek Road in the Cleveland National Forest. Hot, dry Santa Ana winds fanned the inferno.

It burned over the area recently affected by the Valley Fire. By the time it was contained a week later, it had blackened almost 290 square miles of South and East County, destroyed 382 homes and killed eight people.

At the time, it was called the state’s worst. Now, 50 years later, the Laguna fire remains on the list of the largest wildfires in California history.

From The San Diego Union, Monday, September 28, 1970:

THOUSANDS FLEE RAGING COUNTY FIRE 150,000 ACRES, 223 HOMES BURN; WORST IN HISTORY

By Jim Mcvicar

A fire that state officials termed the worst in the state’s history burned over 150,000 acres in San Diego County yesterday.

It roared up mountainsides and down into canyons of the backcountry of the south and east county, destroyed more than 300 structures, including 223 homes, and caused thousands of-residents to flee their homes.

Gov. Reagan declared a state of emergency in San Diego from his office in Sacramento at 1:35 p.m. He issued his statement after hearing that the huge front of the blaze was pushing into the metropolitan area. The fire, which started Saturday southeast of the

Laguna

resorts 60 miles northeast of the city, burned homes in Pine Valley, Alpine, Harbison Canyon, Jamul, El Cajon, Crest and Corta Madera.

Last night, the Palo Verde Estates area on the west edge of Alpine was hit by a massive ball of flame and firemen said it was going “clear through” the two-year-old subdivision. There are approximately 24 homes in the area.

By 10 p.m. families from the estates and other parts of Alpine were evacuated and taken to Civil Defense headquarters at Gillespie Field in El Cajon.

Flames surrounded the town and the

Highway Patrol said $30,000-$60,000 homes were burning. All of the off-ramps leading into Alpine were closed. The fire paralleled Interstate 8 from the Greenfield off-ramp to Alpine.

“We have great concern for the entire community of Alpine,” a fire official said. Alpine’s population is about 6,000. Late last night, Dulzura was being evacuated by deputies after a finger of fire threatened to jump State Highway 94.

‘Worst In History Of California’ Howard Moore, spokesman for the state Division of Forestry in Sacramento, called the fire “the worst in the history of California.” He said its size surpassed the 125,000-acre Matillaja fire, which burned from Kern County to Los Angeles County in 1930. Although acerage in Los Angeles County fires was greater, there were several, separate blazes.

The Laguna fire devastated brush-covered mountains, lush valleys and roared through rural residential areas from Pine Valley to eastern El Cajon and Spring Valley. Billows of brownish-white smoke rose thousands of feet in the air along the 120-mile perimeter of the blaze. About 1,600 men were fighting the fire.

Interstate 8 and State 94, San Diego’s major routes to the east, were closed last night. They had been periodically open to traffic earlier.

Structural Damage Listed

The fire burned through power and telephone poles, disrupting service throughout the fire area. Spokesmen for Pacific Telephone and San Diego Gas & Electric Co. said damage to lines, poles, and equipment would be extremely high. They said there was no means of estimating the dollar amount of damage. More than 1,000 telephones were out.

Structural damage occurred in Pine Valley, where six homes were damaged or destroyed in heavily wooded area; Harbison Canyon, 52 homes damaged or destroyed; Jamul, in which at least 20 homes and several other structures were damaged or burned; Crest, 59 homes burned, and East El Cajon, two homes damaged.

In the exclusive Corta Madera area, northwest of Morena Reservoir, 28 or 30 large homes were saved. One of those that burned was owned by Dr. Arthur Austin of 3586 Sixth Ave.

Austin said the property was part of the 65-year-old Harbaugh Ranch. He said two chimneys were all that remained of the main house. Also destroyed were nine antique wagons, valued at $4,000 each.

The fire was 26 miles long along a straight line from Pine Valley to El Cajon. From north to south at its widest point, the fire stretched about 12 miles.