Fires in Palos Verdes
1 Comment Published by Elaine Carlson September 5th, 2009 in Community Information, Palos Verdes, Rancho Palos Verdes, Rolling Hills. by Elaine Carlson 
Palos Verdes experienced 2 different fires within one week and owners of Palos Verdes real estate were lucky that there was no loss of life or homes. The most recent fire on Thursday (above) was caused by a single car accident on Crenshaw resulting in a fire which quickly spread uphill toward Chadwick School and homes in Academy Hill. There were 2 large scooper planes that filled themselves with ocean water and came back over the fire and dumped their water. They flew overhead on their way back to the ocean and they were so big that the ground vibrated from their passing. Click here for a link to full story in Peninsula News.
The fire last week (above) that begin in the Portuguese Bend area of Rancho Palos Verdes and spread into Rolling Hills was a much bigger fire that burned 230 acres through the night on Thursday, August 27th. Again we were very lucky as there was almost no wind. 4 helicopters and 1 helitanker scooped ocean water to extinguish the fire and 500 area firefighters also helped to extinguish the fire. Two homes on Cinchring and Quail Ridge in Rolling Hills were damaged. The Peninsula News had the full story including the reminder “Where homes were saved, they had (completed) proper (city- and county-mandated) brush clearance and they had fire-resistant vegetation…”
Photos courtesy of Tom Underhill, Peninsula News, and Blake Shoemaker
I am so glad that you described the experience of being there as the big planes poured water over the land. I also did not know what started the fire. During the fire I was in Redondo Beach in the Avenues and we could hear the planes and fire engines. It was very surreal as 4 fires were burning in Los Angeles. I was especially grateful for the ocean…ready and avail for the refilling of the planes. Thank you for the update.
Lynne Pope