1933 Griffith Park fire

1933 wildfire in Southern California May 2025 February 2025 Griffith Park Fire Workers fighting a fire in Griffith Park, Los Angeles, 1933.jpg Workers fighting the fire atop a hill in the park 150+https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10096350 Griffith Park Fire Stirs Visions of 1933 Destruction NPR 2007-05-09 2018-03-06 29 1933 10 03 – 1933 10 04 (1933 10 03 1933 10 04 days) Griffith Park, Los Angeles, California 34 8 32.66 N 118 17 36.28 W inline,title Los Angeles#California#USA Location of fire in Los Angeles 47 acre ha 0 A brush fire occurred on October 3, 1933, in Griffith Park in Los Angeles, resulting in the deaths of at least 29 civilians who were trying to fight the fire. Background During the dry summer and fall of 1933, thousands of workers financed by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation were hired to clear dry brush and to build trails and roads in Griffith Park.https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-xpm-2013-jul-01-la-me-ln-griffith-fire-20130701-story.html 29 L.A. firefighters lost in 1933 in Griffith Park blaze Dolan Jack July 1, 2013 Los Angeles Times August 27, 2014 On the day of the fire, one sourcehttps://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/12/15/oh-god-help-me-in-californias-deadliest-fire-survivors-watched-co-workers-die 'Oh God! Help me!': In California's deadliest fire, survivors watched co-workers die Vargas, Theresa The Washington Post 2017-12-15 2018-03-06 gives an estimate of 3,780 men working in the park, for a pay of 40 cents per hour. While another source gives an estimate of more than 100 squads, each supervised by a foreman or "straw boss", of 50 to 80 men were at work in the park; 5,000 to 8,000 workers. Fire A little after 2:00 p.m. PDT, a small fire started in a pile of debris in Mineral Wells Canyon. Many of the workers volunteered or were ordered to fight the fire, but it spread up the canyon. Because there was no piped water in the area, the men tried to beat out the fire with shovels. Foremen with no knowledge of firefighting initially directed the effort, setting inappropriate back fires and sending hundreds of workers into a steep canyon. The fire department arrived at 2:26 p.m. but found it hard to fight the fire because of the presence of thousands of untrained people.http://www.lafire.com/famous_fires/1933-1003_GriffithParkFire/1933-1003_GriffithParkFire.htm The Griffith Park Fire Los Angeles Fire Department Historical Archive August 27, 2014 When the wind changed direction at about 3:00 p.m., the fire rushed up Dam Canyon, jumped a hastily constructed firebreak, and advanced on the workers, killing dozens and injuring more than 100. By nightfall the fire was under control, after burning about 47 acre ha of the park's 4200 acre ha out. Aftermath Because of the disorganized nature of the deployment and the often inaccurate recordkeeping of the work project, it took weeks to establish the exact death toll and identify the bodies. A month after the fire, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office put the official death toll at 29, with 27 dead at the scene and two dead in hospitals afterwards. The Griffith Park fire remained the single-deadliest wildfire in California history for 85 years until being surpassed by the Camp Fire in 2018, which killed 85 people.Camp Fire Incident Information http://www.fire.ca.gov/current_incidents/incidentdetails/Index/2277 CalFire 22 November 2018 7 December 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20181207134414/http://www.fire.ca.gov/current_incidents/incidentdetails/Index/2277 dead To commemorate the fallen workers, a deodar tree was planted at the entrance to the park along with a memorial plaque. The plaque can no longer be found. The courts ruled that victims were not eligible for civil compensation due to their unofficial employment by a 'straw boss' (Ca. Public Resources Code).July 2024 See also California Los Angeles List of California wildfires Bibliography of Los Angeles Outline of the history of Los Angeles Bibliography of California history References Category:1933 in Los Angeles Category:1933 natural disasters in the United States Category:1930s wildfires Category:Griffith Park Category:Santa Monica Mountains Category:Wildfires in Los Angeles County, California Category:October 1933 in the United States Category:1933 fires in the United States Category:20th-century wildfires in the United States