The remains of the Oakridge mobile home park in Sylmar; 480 of the park's 600 mobile homes were burned in the fire. The undamaged houses in the background became uninhabitable due to the lack of utility service.
The Sayre Fire, also known as the Sylmar Fire, was a November 2008 wildfire which burned 489 residences in Los Angeles, considered to be the "worst loss of homes due to fire" in the city's history at that time.[1] The fire was first reported at 10:29 p.m. PDT on November 14, 2008, in the Sylmar section of Los Angeles. As of November 20, 2008, the fire was 100% contained, had burned 11,262 acres (46km2) and destroyed more than 600 structures (480 mobile homes, nine single-family homes, 104 outbuildings and 10 commercial buildings).[2] The number of homes lost in the Sayre fire exceeded the prior record set in 1961 by the Bel Air Fire which claimed 484 homes, and it remained the most destructive in Los Angeles history until it too was surpassed by the Palisades Fire in 2025.[1][3][4] There were no fatalities, just minor injuries to five firefighters and one civilian.[5]
One day after the wind-swept "Tea Fire" destroyed more than 200 homes in Montecito and Santa Barbara, the Sayre Fire was reported in the 13000 block of Sayre Street in Sylmar,[6] just north of the Foothill Freeway (Route 210) near Veterans Memorial County Park.[7] It spread rapidly, fanned by strong Santa Ana winds with near hurricane-force gusts estimated at between 50mph (80km/h) and 80mph (130km/h).[7][8] California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger called the causative factors a "perfect storm"—strong winds, low humidity, high temperatures, and dry brush.[9]
The Sayre fire as seen from Santa Clarita on November 15, 2008
Response
In the pre-dawn hours on November 15, 2008, over 600 firefighters battled the Sayre Fire, the number on site increasing to 1,100 by midday.[6][10] Fire officials said winds of “near hurricane force” grounded some of their water-dropping aircraft.[10] The fire moved west from Sylmar and threatened the luxury planned community of Knollwood in Granada Hills. On November 15, 2008, at 8:00a.m. PDT, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa declared a state of emergency in the city, and Governor Schwarzenegger issued a state of emergency declaration later in the morning.[11] On November 18, 2008, President George W. Bush declared the area struck by November 2008 California wildfires a federal disaster area, freeing up federal aid for reconstruction efforts.[12]
Impact of the fire
Housing loss
County fire officials reported on November 19, 2008 that the Sayre Fire had destroyed more than 600 structures, including 480 mobile homes, nine single-family homes, 104 outbuildings and 10 commercial buildings.[2] The Los Angeles Times called it "the worst loss of homes due to fire in the city of Los Angeles"[1] and reported that it "appeared to be the largest number of housing units lost to fire in the city of Los Angeles, surpassing the 484 residences destroyed in the 1961 Bel Air fire".[3] Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, a lifelong city resident, noted: "This is as bad a fire as I can remember since the Bel-Air Fire. The human devastation that's involved, whether you live in a mobile home or an estate, it's devastating. We can't even begin to weigh their loss."[13]
In the pre-dawn hours on November 15, 2008, the fire devastated the Oakridge Mobile Home Park, destroying 480 of the park's 600 mobile homes.[2][13] Los Angeles Fire Department Captain Steve Ruda described the scene as "an absolute firestorm" with 50-foot (15m) high flames and added, "Hoses were melting into the cement and concrete. That's how hot the fire was."[13][14] Firefighters rescued several individuals from their mobile homes,[13] and four civilians rescued a 300-pound disabled woman, who was trapped in her mobile home, as fire was breaking the glass.[3] Though Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton initially expressed concern that some elderly residents might have perished at the mobile home park,[15] cadaver-sniffing dogs searched the ruins and found no evidence of any fatalities.[16]
"With 600 households, well-manicured lawns and luxury amenities, Oakridge Mobile Home Park was no trailer park. The gated community, most of which was reduced to ash by a roaring wildfire that swept through the Sylmar hills late Friday and early Saturday, featured a putting green, an Olympic-size swimming pool and tennis courts. 'It wasn't just a mobile home (park),' said Linda Pogacnik, 63, whose home was destroyed. 'It was the Beverly Hills of mobile homes.'[17]
After the effort in Oakridge, a firefighter produced a burned U.S. flag on a broken stick taken from a home that was destroyed in Oakridge. The firefighter offered it as a sign of hope and bravery for firefighters. The flag was presented by Los Angeles Fire Department Acting Fire Chief Emile Mack to Oakridge Mobile Home Park manager Jinny Harmon. It was later framed and hung in the new clubhouse at Oakridge.[13][failed verification]
In a press briefing on November 16, 2008, Governor Schwarzenegger noted that the homes in the Oakridge community had ignited "like matches", and called for a review of fire retardancy standards applicable to mobile homes and mobile home parks.[1][18][needs update]
Public response
In the early morning hours of November 15, 2008, officials ordered the mandatory evacuation of residents north of the 210 Freeway in the Sylmar area.[19] The evacuation area was expanded to cover more than 10,000 people, living in the far north end of the San Fernando Valley from Sylmar in the east to Granada Hills in the west.[10] Evacuation centers and shelters were established at Sylmar High School, San Fernando High School, Chatsworth High School and Kennedy High School. By the afternoon of November 16, 2008, all of the evacuation centers except for Sylmar High School had been closed.[20] Large animal evacuation centers were established at Pierce College and at the Hansen Dam Equestrian Center.[10]
The fire resulted in temporary closures of several of the San Fernando Valley's major freeways, including the Golden State Freeway (Interstate 5) at the Newhall Pass, the Foothill Freeway (Interstate 210) from I-5 through Sylmar, the Simi Valley-San Fernando Valley Freeway (California State Route 118), the San Diego Freeway (Interstate 405) at Route 118 and the Antelope Valley Freeway (California State Route 14) from south Santa Clarita to the Newhall Pass.[21] By late afternoon on November 15, 2008, the California Highway Patrol announced the re-opening of the freeways closed due to the Sayre fire.
Shortly after 1:00a.m. PDT on November 15, 2008, flames from the Sayre Fire threatened Olive View-UCLA Medical Center in Sylmar.[22] The Los Angeles Times reported that, around midnight, "tall walls of flames quickly surrounded Olive View Medical Center," as "embers blew down streets, catching trees and shrubs on fire around the hospital," and "before long, the hospital was surrounded on all sides by fire."[23] Some 200 patients were sheltered in place as firefighters fought the flames outside the hospital. The hospital lost power, generators failed to work, and the smell of smoke filled darkened hallways, as staff tended to patients with flashlights, and critical patients were kept alive with hand-powered ventilators. A number of infants and critical patients were evacuated in ambulances.[8] More than 40 buildings on the Olive View campus were damaged in the fire, and the child care center was destroyed.[24]
On November 15, 2008, the Los Angeles Police Department arrested five individuals for looting in areas evacuated due to the fire, and imposed a curfew for young people.[13] A homeowner in Porter Ranch found two women taking property from his home, "stacking his property outside the house and carrying them to a green four-door Infiniti." The two women, one from North Hollywood and the other from Sherman Oaks, were arrested, and police believe the women may have burglarized other homes in the area.[25]
Other impacts
Ash from the Sayre Fire also resulted in the death of Los Angeles County's mosquito-killing fish, which were bred in ponds located in Sylmar. The fish, Gambusia affinis, eat mosquito larvae and are distributed throughout the county from the Sylmar ponds as part of an effort to battle the spread of the West Nile virus. The Sylmar ponds where the mosquito fish are bred were inundated with ash, resulting in the fish deaths.[26] Despite the fire raging several miles to the north, a San Fernando Valley shopping center, Americana at Brand, decided to move ahead with an evening fireworks display as part of its Christmas tree lighting ceremony. The Los Angeles Times reported that the fireworks sent area residents "running outside in alarm. One resident was quoted in the Times as saying that, with the local hotels filled with evacuees, "It was a really an inappropriate display. This was not the time to shoot off fireworks." A mall spokesperson said the fireworks could not be rescheduled and added, "We weren't trying to be insensitive.""[27]
While the immediate concern following the fire was with loss of homes, the Sayre fire also caused extensive damage to nine parks, including Stetson Ranch, El Cariso and Wilson Canyon Park in Sylmar, Placerita Canyon Nature Center, Whitney Canyon Park and Elsmere Canyon in Newhall, and O'Melveny Park in Granada Hills. Veterans Memorial Park in Sylmar suffered severe fire damage, including destruction of a 2,000-square-foot (190m2) administration building and a cactus garden.[28] The organizers of the first Pasadena marathon were forced to cancel the event due to the heavy smoke in the air.[29]
A rally protesting the passage of a ballot initiative banning gay marriage had been expected to draw 40,000 protesters to Downtown Los Angeles on November 15, 2008, but drew only 8,000, which some attributed to the evacuations, freeway closures, and traffic jams resulting from the Sayre Fire. Mayor Villaraigosa attended the rally between news conferences at the Sayre Fire site.[30] The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power ("DWP") had a major converter station in Sylmar and was forced to impose rolling blackouts, temporarily cutting off electricity to residents in Sherman Oaks, Mid City, Crenshaw, and other areas for about 25 minutes.[3][13]
Sylmar is a suburban neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley and the northernmost neighborhood within the city of Los Angeles, California, United States. Historically known for its profusion of sylvan olive orchards, Sylmar can trace its past to the 18th century and the founding of the San Fernando Mission. In 1890, olive production was begun systematically. The Sylmar climate was also considered healthy, and so a sanitarium was established, the first in a series of hospitals in the neighborhood. There are fourteen public and eight private schools within Sylmar.
At least 9,093 separate wildfires charred 1,520,362 acres (6,152.69 km2) of land in the US state of California in 2007. Thirty of those wildfires were part of the Fall 2007 California firestorm, which burned approximately 972,147 acres of land from Santa Barbara County to the U.S.–Mexico border. At the peak of the wildfire activity in October 2007, the raging wildfires were visible from space.
The 2008 wildfire season was one of California's most devastating in the 21st century. While 6,255 fires occurred, about two-thirds as many as in 2007, the total area burned— 1,593,690 acres —far exceeded that of previous years.
The Tea Fire, also known as the Montecito Tea Fire, was a wildfire that began on November 13, 2008, destroying 210 homes in the cities of Montecito and Santa Barbara, California, in the United States of America. It was the first of several November 2008 wildfires that burned hundreds of homes from November 13–15, 2008. The Tea Fire ignited in the Cold Springs section of Montecito at approximately 17:50 PST on November 13, 2008. The fire started at a Mar Y Cel historic structure called the "Tea House" above Mountain Drive, giving the fire its name. Spreading rapidly, it was fanned by offshore winds, known as Sundowner winds, that blow down the Santa Ynez Mountains, gusting up to 85 mph (137 km/h). These winds caused the fire to spread into the city of Santa Barbara. The fire was 40% contained on the 15th, 75% on the 16th, and by November 17, 2008, it was 95% contained after burning 1,940 acres, and on November 18, it was 100% contained.
The Freeway Complex Fire was a 2008 wildfire in the Santa Ana Canyon area of Orange County, California. The fire started as two separate fires on November 15, 2008. The Freeway Fire started first shortly after 9am with the Landfill Fire igniting approximately 2 hours later. These two separate fires merged a day later and ultimately destroyed 314 residences in Anaheim Hills and Yorba Linda.
The Sesnon Fire was a wildfire that broke out near the oil fields of Oat Mountain, north of Porter Ranch, California, on Monday October 13, 2008. The cause of this fire was a power line falling onto dry brush near a drainage area. A state of emergency was declared by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on October 13 in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties. The fire burned more than 22 square miles (57 km2) and cost US$7.9 million to fight. This fire occurred concurrently two others, one in San Diego County and another at the eastern end of the San Fernando Valley. One person lost their life due to the low visibility on highways because of the smoke from the fire.
The 1978 Agoura-Malibu firestorm was a firestorm fueled by at least eight significant wildfires in the Los Angeles area on October 23, 1978. At around noon that day, an arsonist started a fire that eventually burned 25,000 acres (10,000 ha) from Cornell to Broad Beach in Malibu. The first fire alarm in Agoura was reported at 12:11 pm, and by 2:30 pm, the fire had reached the Pacific Ocean 13 miles (21 km) south in Malibu. It had been declared a Level 2 fire at 1:57 pm.
The October 2007 California wildfires, also known as the Fall 2007 California firestorm, were a series of about thirty wildfires that began igniting across Southern California on October 20. At least 1,500 homes were destroyed and approximately 972,147 acres of land was burned from Santa Barbara County to the U.S.–Mexico border, surpassing the October 2003 California wildfires in scope, which were estimated to have burned 800,000 acres (3,200 km2). The wildfires killed a total of 14 people, with nine of them dying directly from the fires; 160 others were injured, including at least 124 firefighters. At their height, the raging fires were visible from space. These fires included the vast majority of the largest and deadliest wildfires of the 2007 California wildfire season. The only wildfire in 2007 that surpassed any of the individual October 2007 fires in size was the Zaca Fire.
In terms of property damage, 2017 was the most destructive wildfire season on record in California at the time, surpassed by only the 2018 season and the 2020 season, with a total of 9,560 fires burning 1,548,429 acres (6,266.27 km2) of land, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, including five of the 20 most destructive wildland-urban interface fires in the state's history. Throughout 2017, the fires destroyed or damaged more than 10,000 structures in the state, a higher tally than the previous nine years combined. State data showed that the large wildfires killed 47 people – 45 civilians and 2 firefighters – almost higher than the previous 10 years combined. The total property damage and total amount of burned land were both surpassed by the 2018 California wildfires.
The La Tuna Fire was a wildfire in the Verdugo Mountains in Los Angeles County, Southern California, in September 2017. The fire began from undetermined causes on the afternoon of September 1 in La Tuna Canyon, and burned 7,194 acres (2,911 ha) before its containment on September 9. The fire caused at least ten injuries, the destruction of five homes and five outbuildings, and the evacuations of hundreds more. It was one of the largest wildfires in the history of the city of Los Angeles.
The Canyon Fire 2, also known as the Canyon 2 Fire, was a wildfire that burned in the Anaheim Hills area of the city of Anaheim in Orange County, California. The fast-moving brush fire broke out on October 9, 2017, around 9:45 A.M. PDT near the 91 Freeway and Gypsum Canyon Road. It leaped over the Route 241 toll road, raced up a ridge, and set fire to several homes. In total, about 16,570 were ordered to evacuate their homes in Anaheim, Orange, and Tustin but returned when the evacuation order was lifted on October 12.
The Skirball Fire was a wildfire that burned in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States, and one of multiple wildfires that broke out across Southern California in December 2017. The fire burned 422 acres of land on the slopes of the Sepulveda Pass on its east or Bel Air side, causing the closure of Interstate 405, a major traffic artery in the city. The Skirball Cultural Center, Bel-Air Country Club, Getty Center, Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, and various private schools were closed as a result of the fire. Classes were cancelled at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Santa Monica College, while Mount Saint Mary's University evacuated from its Brentwood campus to its downtown Los Angeles location. The fire destroyed six structures and damaged 12. On December 10, at about 1 p.m. PST, all evacuation orders and road closures for the Skirball Fire were lifted, as containment of the wildfire increased to 85%. Late on December 15, it was reported that the Skirball Fire had been 100% contained, at 422 acres (171 ha).
The Creek Fire was a large wildfire that burned in Kagel Canyon and the Angeles National Forest north of Sylmar, a neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, United States, and one of multiple wildfires that broke out across Southern California in December 2017. The Creek Fire burned 15,619 acres (63 km2) and destroyed 123 structures, including 60 homes, before being contained on January 9, 2018, following heavy rainfall from a winter storm. The fire threatened the communities of Santa Clarita, Glendale, Olive View, Lake View Terrace, Sunland-Tujunga, Shadow Hills, Sylmar, Pacoima, Lopez Canyon, and Kagel Canyon, as well as the Olive View–UCLA Medical Center. During the wildfire, 115,000 residents were forced to evacuate their homes.
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The Saddleridge Fire was a wildfire burning near the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles County, California. It broke out roughly around 9:02 pm on Thursday October 10, 2019. It is still undetermined as to how it had started, but believed that the blaze had started beneath a high voltage transmission tower. Reporters and first responders began to assess the fire, the main location at the time of ignition was at the entrance of Interstate 210 and Yarnell Street. Residents were being evacuated, shop owners standing by in hopes their shops were still up, and many of the community helping with evacuating all animals from surrounding farms and ranches. The fire was fully extinguished on Thursday October 31, 2019, twenty days after first igniting. The fire burned 8,799 acres (3,561 ha) and resulted in 8 injuries and 1 fatality.
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The Palisades Fire is a wildfire burning in the Santa Monica Mountains of Los Angeles County in Southern California which has killed at least nine people. As of January 13, 2025, at 11:13 a.m. PST, the fire had spread to 23,713 acres, destroying structures in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles, the coastal portion of the unincorporated community of Topanga, and the eastern edge of the city of Malibu. It is the first and largest of a series of wildfires in and around the city of Los Angeles being driven by an extreme Santa Ana wind event. On January 8, Wildfire Alliance statistics indicated that the fire is the most destructive fire in Los Angeles history, surpassing the Sayre Fire in Sylmar in 2008 which destroyed 604 structures. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
The Hurst Fire was a wildfire that burned in the Sylmar area of the city of Los Angeles in Southern California. It was one of several fires driven by an extremely powerful Santa Ana wind event.
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