Fire History

A Mediterranean climate naturally supports various types of shrubland vegetation that produce widespread and continuous beds of fuel. This vegetation (fuel) becomes quite dry by early fall, though some years are drier than others. Every fall, at the end of the dry season, hot and dry Santa Ana winds blow strongly from the north and north-east for days at a time. These winds are funneled into the Santa Monica Mountains and made even stronger by the steep ridges and canyons that channel the wind and magnify its effect on fire behavior. The fuels, seasonal drought, wind, and terrain combine to produce one of the world’s greatest natural fire hazards.

This landscape can have a big wildfire in any year. All we need is an ill-timed source of ignition. When a wildfire starts during fire weather, it can take off immediately with flame lengths of 15 to 35 feet, spreading downwind at speeds of 3 to 5 miles per hour, igniting every flammable thing in its path with a hail of burning embers. A wildfire that becomes a firestorm is an inexorable force of nature, similar to earthquakes or hurricanes. There is no safe or effective way to put it out until a break in the weather occurs. Learn about historic fire behavior and fire progressions here.

Modern fire history maps for our area started in 1925. Many fire agencies including NPS contribute to a state fire history database that records over 300 fires within the current boundaries of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. NPS uses Geographic Information Systems, a computerized mapping system, to visualize that data in the variety of map products presented here.

Extreme fire weather only occurs on ten to twenty days in most years. Most fires starting on other days are easily suppressed, stay fairly small, and don’t add up to much in the big picture. The largest ten percent of all wildfires collectively account for almost 90 percent of the total area burned. The fire history of this landscape is mostly a history of the largest fires. Names of the big ones are burned into the memory of long term residents and firefighters. Details about the 20 biggest fires in our mountains can be found here.

Lightning is an insignificant source of wildfire ignitions in the Santa Monica Mountains unlike taller mountain ranges like the Sierra Nevada, and the Rockies.  Almost all of the area burned by fires in our mountains burns in fires started by people. Learn about the causes of modern wildfires here.

More people, living and working in our mountains, are starting more wildfires. Some areas burn much more frequently than others. Too many fires occurring too frequently are damaging our native vegetation to the detriment of the entire ecosystem. Find information about fire frequency and fire return intervals here.

Wildfire has been a natural part of the Santa Monica Mountains since their formation about 2 million years ago. Historic evidence suggests that fire weather has caused large fires here since before the Chumash Indians arrived. Large fires continued through the Spanish, Mexican, and American periods. Predictions of climate change suggest that big wildfires may become even more common in the future. Learn about prehistoric fires and the future of wildfire here.