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Southern California Fires 1993
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In the fall of 1993, 20 separate fires burned over 186,000 acres of Southern California, extending from northern Los Angeles County to southern San Diego County and the Mexican border. Nearly 1,200 homes were destroyed and four people lost their lives. Unlike the East Bay Firestorm in Oakland, CA (1991) where 3,100 structures were destroyed in an 1,800 acre densely populated urban area, the majority of acreage on which the 1993 fires occurred was in wild lands, or away from urban centers.
However, at the urban interface where wild lands and development meet, the hazard from post-fire flooding, erosion, sedimentation and mud flows can directly impact human populations. In the crucible that constitutes post-fire disaster planning and implementation, it is the potential occurrence of this second disaster which challenges federal, state and local government entities to allocate human and financial resources and focus them into immediate and effective actions.
The California Office of Emergency Services (OES) assigned the task of statewide post-fire hazard assessment and mitigation planning to Woodward-Clyde Consultants (WCC). In addition, WCC was responsible for implementation of post-fire mitigation activities in the communities of Malibu, Thousand Oaks, Laguna Beach and Orange County.
As in 1991 following the Oakland Firestorm, WCC's Carol L. Forrest, P.E. was designated the responsible professional for overall mitigation planning and implementation. Michael Harding, CPESC was hired as the sub-consultant for erosion and sediment control and Chuck Austin was designated as the field operations supervisor. |
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