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By Scott Limpus
November 13, 2019
Most of us think of the summer as being the peak of “Fire Season” in Southern California. In reality, fire season is a year-around concern, and two of the most historical fires in the San Bernardino mountains started well into November. Of course, many residents will remember the 2003 Old Fire and the 2007 Slide Fire, both of which started in late October and burned into November. But there were a lot less people living here in 1980, when the Panorama Fire threatened the Crestline area, and even fewer in 1970, when the Bear Fire burned around Running Springs.
On November 13, 1970 a fire broke out east of the Big Bear Dam near Butler Peak. Butler Peak Fire Lookout employee Eileen McMatton first reported seeing flames around 3:30am on that Friday morning, 2 miles south of the Big Bear Dam. With fires already burning in Rancho Cucamonga, Loma Linda, and Riverside, local emergency crews were stretched thin and exhausted from weeks of fighting fires. Governor Ronald Reagan had just declared a State of Emergency for the Myers Fire which burned 44,000 acres near Lytle Creek, becoming the largest wildfire in San Bernardino County’s history. Three weeks later, a second Disaster Declaration was signed for the 51,000 acre Bear Fire.
Fueled by strong Santa Ana winds that were gusting to 90 miles per hour, the fire quickly spread southwest towards Running Springs and Highland, forcing the evacuation of the 1,000 residents in Running Springs, and a total of 2,000 homes, mostly in the Highland and Del Rosa areas. In the first 12 hours, the fire chewed though 32,000 acres and covered a distance of 9 miles. 1,500 firefighters attacked the fire from several fronts, including Running Springs, Highway 38 where several camps were threatened, and in Highland, where a pre-dawn assault was stopped in homeowners’ backyards. Unfortunately, only 7 engines and crews were available in Running Springs, and 36 cabins were burned in Smiley Park. At one point during the fight, a bulldozer that was cutting a fire line around Smiley Park was over-ran by flames. The operator sheltered under the dozer and was uninjured. The only injury reported was to a firefighter with a broken leg. The fire was contained in about a week, after the winds died down. There were no deaths, and only two additional structures lost, one in City Creek, and one on the San Manuel Reservation. An illegal campfire is believed to have caused the fire. Scars from the fire can still be seen almost 50 years later on Keller Peak, where Children’s Forest stands to each school students about fire ecology.
10 years later, a new record would be set with the Panorama Fire. On Monday, November 24, 1980, an arsonist started a fire on Highway 18 near Panorama Point around 10:41am. Eleven other fires were burning in Southern California, including the Thunder Fire near Mount Baldy, which depleted the area of 86 fire engines and 1,100 firefighters. Crews were still recovering from the massive Laguna Fire in San Diego two months earlier. The San Bernardino Mountains had gone 168 days without rain, and after two days of Santa Ana winds, it did not take long for the fire to explode. A California Department of Forestry Strike Team of 5 engines responding from Crestline observed the fire near lower Waterman Canyon. Five minutes later, they reported another fire near upper Waterman Canyon. In the first hour of the fire, 300 structures were destroyed, mostly in North San Bernardino. 100 mile per hour winds made firefighting efforts difficult. As the fire moved both north towards Crestline, and south towards San Bernardino, a massive evacuation was ordered. “All available resources” from Southern California was requested, and hundred of municipal firefighters from Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, and Imperial counties, as well us dozens of engines from the local military bases, responded to what would become the deadliest and most destructive fire in San Bernardino County’s history, a record that would hold for the next 23 years.
All of San Bernardino north of 40th Street was evacuated, and no one was allowed north of 30th Street as traffic congestion hindered emergency vehicle response. Mountain communities from Cedar Pines Park to Running Springs we evacuated as well. As the fire burned into San Bernardino, erratic winds push the fire north, burning 10 homes in Crestline and threatened 30 more. Fortunately the winds changed directions, sparing the mountain from major losses. The fire burned for several days west towards Devore and east towards Highland. New fires near Highway 330 and Highway 15 further hampered containment efforts. The Forest Service took over management of the Panorama Fire, and operated the largest fire camp in history out of Glen Helen, with more than 3,500 firefighters and support staff assigned to the incident. On Thanksgiving afternoon, mountain residents were allowed to return home. On Friday, the winds finally died down, and a massive aerial response stopped further spread of the fire. Although crews would work for several more days mopping up hot spots, the fire was finally under control, but not before taking the lives of 4 residents in San Bernardino, destroying 284 homes, damaging 49 more, and burning 49 other structures, including buildings at the Campus Crusade for Christ and Cal State San Bernardino.
