Woolsey Fire

The 2018 Woolsey Fire was a large, deadly, and destructive wildfire in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, California. The fire ignited on November 8 and was not fully contained until November 21. During that period the fire spread to 96,949 acres (39,234 hectares), destroyed 1,643 structures, killed three people, and prompted the evacuation of more than 295,000 people. It was one of several fires in California—including the nearby Hill Fire and the even more impactful Camp Fire in Butte County—that ignited on the same day. The fire started in Woolsey Canyon on the Santa Susana Field Laboratory property, and burned 80 percent of the site, a complex of industrial research and development buildings belonging to Boeing, in the Santa Susana Mountains above the Simi Valley near the boundary between Los Angeles and Ventura counties. The Santa Ana winds, which often are a factor for Southern California fires, pushed the fire in a southerly direction throughout the first day. The Ventura Freeway (US 101) between the San Fernando Valley and the Conejo Valley was closed as the fire crossed and headed into the rugged Santa Monica Mountains. The fire raced through the chaparral-covered steep canyons where it encountered historic movie and TV sets, small ranches, and the houses of celebrities. Hundreds of houses in Malibu were destroyed or damaged on both sides of Pacific Coast Highway (SR 1). Many of these were on Point Dume that juts out from the narrow coastal terrace that lies between the mountains and the Pacific Ocean. The mitigation measures Pepperdine University had in place successfully protected the campus, with students sheltering in place, to the south. The entire sparsely populated portion of the Malibu coast west to the community of Solromar, which includes state and national parklands, suffered damage from the fire. The fire cost...