Report : 2007 Southern California Fires - Lessons Learned

The Lessons Learned Center - the fires in the fall of 2007 in Southern California to determine the potential for lessons learned. They just released their 44-page report- (.PDF).

Every firefighter says that every fire they respond to is different. That is one of the first
things that became apparent when the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center’s Information
Collection Team began talking to emergency responders during southern California’s 2007 fires:
It was not like southern California’s fire siege of 2003. Firefighters said they experienced
dramatic differences even between the fires that were burning simultaneously in 2007.
In a thank you letter to all of the respondents to the 2007 event, Cal Fire Chief Director
Ruben Grijalva wrote “Even though there were 23 fires burning at once, any firefighter can tell
you that the conditions at each fire varied widely. Weather, terrain and visibility can vary
erratically in southern California. The sheer magnitude of the October fires was incredible, and
the fires moved in ways experienced firefighters had never seen. In some locations, flames were
advancing at an acre per second amid 80 mph wind gusts.”
“Firestorm 2003,” as the media tagged it, was unprecedented at that time. More than
12,000 firefighters responded to thirteen wildfires, located within five southern California
counties that eventually were contained at 745,190 acres. California’s Office of Emergency
Services (OES) reported that 3,641 homes and an additional 1,184 other buildings were
destroyed. Suppression costs were estimated at $120 million. The most devastating result of the
fires was the deaths of 22 residents and one firefighter.
Those interviewed for the “Lessons Learned Report” in 2003 said they believed that
events on the magnitude of the 2003 fires would reoccur.
Four years later, almost to the day,
their expectations were met.
During southern California’s 2007 fires, statistics varied somewhat. In addition to the 23
large fires that occurred, another 251 vegetation fires were extinguished by fire service
personnel, before damage occurred, between October 2025,
Grijalva said. The 23 large wildfires
that occurred in a seven county
area were eventually contained at 518,021 acres. The number of
responding firefighters from local, state and federal agencies totaled more than 20,000. Fire
suppression costs of the combined local, state and federal agencies reportedly totaled about
$100 million. The state’s OES reported 2,180 homes and 927 other buildings were destroyed.
Authorities estimate that half a million residents were evacuated from the path of the fires and
seven people died.
For a visual comparison of the burned areas in 2003 and 2007 in San Diego County
alone, please go to http://weblog.signonsandiego.com/multimedia/utmedia/071030fireweek/
Beyond the statistics, several other differences were noted. In 2003, the Santa Ana winds
rarely exceeded 40 mph. In 2007, the Santa Ana winds were regularly clocked at 70 and 80
mph. In 2003, state and federal agencies had not prestaged
resources for the possibility of
winddriven
fires, but in 2007 many state and federal entities froze their offduty
personnel into
preparedness and poised engines, aircraft and management teams in instant response readiness.

The five-person team consisted of Dan Frazee, Phoenix, AZ Fire Department, Dennis Baldridge, U.S. Forest Service, Kevin Pfister, BridgerTeton National Forest, Dave Christenson, Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center, and Jim Hollingsworth, Cal Fire.