Sand fire: By the numbers
Editor’s Note: Today begins a series of stories looking back at the 2016 Sand fire as we find ourselves already knee-deep into fire season. Last year, eight members of The Signal staff worked to provide coverage of the fire from the field – and updates to the community threatened by the raging inferno – in both written word and captured images. As the series unfolds we take a look at the wildfire that threatened so much and what has happened in the aftermath of the fire.
What began as a small brush fire nearly a year ago on a Friday afternoon near Highway 14 and Sand Canyon Road, exploded within hours eventually tearing through thousands of acres in the Santa Clarita Valley and into the Angeles National Forest.
Last year’s fire season, fueled by heavy chaparral and brush and a fiveyear drought, was described as ‘not normal times’ by one fire official. firefighters aggressively battled the Sand fire which consumed some 33,000 acres within the first three days of the blaze.
“That fire came through like a freight train,” Los Angeles County fire Department Deputy Chief John Tripp said at the time.
The equal opportunity fire ravaged homes and movies sets alike in the Santa Clarita Valley. Sable Ranch, a popular filming location, had been destroyed by the fire. Rancho Deluxe, a move filming ranch next door saved its sets but only by spending more than $100,000 and sleepless days battling the blazes.
The inferno whipped through Bear Divide – not far from the U.S. Forest Service Bear Divide fire Station on Sand Canyon Road - where it swiftly engulfed five dwellings owned by the U.S. Forest Service.
The tally: 10,000 homes were evacuated, 18 homes were destroyed, one person lost his life, animals large and small were evacuated, numerous roads and hiking trails were shut down, evacuation centers opened as mandatory evacuations were ordered, and numerous power lines were downed.
Highway on- and off-ramps from were closed up into Agua Dulce and Acton neighborhoods, many roads were closed in and around the SCV area – with two roads still waiting to be reopened one year later.
Without the benefit of Canada’s monster firefighting planes, the Super Scoopers which the county of Los Angeles leases each year after that country’s fire season ends, the raging fires instead were battled by 3,379 fire personnel fighting, 72 crews, 29 dozers, 14 water tenders and 12 aircraft, with helitankers and planes dropping PhosChek on flames as they roared through Placerita Canyon.
Metrolink stopped train service short-term to or from the Vincent Grade/Acton, Palmdale or Lancaster stations due to the fire, and the train only operated between the Via Princessa Station and Los Angeles Union Station.
Schools canceled sport team practices due to poor air quality, and William S. Hart Union High School District canceled all summer school classes temporarily.
Summer camps were closed, Central Park was closed for two weeks and used as a staging area for firefighters. The city’s weekly Saturday Concerts in the Park were canceled until further notice.
The county asked the governor to declare a state of emergency, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) authorized the use of federal funds to assist the state of California to combat the fire.
But, for those who lost their homes, belongings, pets and even a loved one, recovery is still a process.
The woman who lost her “soulmate,” she is still living forever separated from her loved one when the Sand fire claimed the life of 67-year-old Robert Bresnick. And their dogs that might help to console her cannot stay with her at her current home.
Homicide detectives believe the unbelievable speed of the Sand fire trapped Bresnick in his car as he tried to drive down his driveway on North Iron Canyon Road, burning him to death.
Part of what made the Sand fire unique was its exposure to brush that’s had more than a half century to become brittle, dry and dangerous, Tripp said at the time.
“We always knew the potential was there because the fuel is old,” he said. “It’s 60, maybe 70-year-old brush, so we knew the potential was there.
“But everything lined up perfectly,” he said. “The vegetation stressed from the drought, the wind at red flag conditions, with the heat and the low humidity – it came down like a freight train.”
Officials finally announced on August 3rd that the fire was 100 percent contained after burning 41,432 acres.
Signal Staff who covered the 2016 fire: Jim Holt, Samie Gebers, Nik Samuels, Katharine Lotze, Austin Dave, Dan Watson, Matthew Thacker, Austin Westfall and Krista Daly.