Fire In the City by Zina Abbott

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While deciding on my setting for my most recent book, I chose for my heroine to come from one of my favorite cities of origin—Chicago, Illinois. It was a large progressive city, it had newspapers which carried matrimonial advertisements, and it had a big fire in 1871 that destroyed a lot of the city and disrupted many lives, causing hardships for many.

Not long after I started writing, on January 7, 2025, a wind event called the Santa Ana winds, which is peculiar to Southern California, began. Instead of the usual off-shore flow of humid air coming inland from the Pacific Ocean, high pressure systems in the Great Basin and desert regions to the east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains caused hot, dry winds to blow toward the west. They skirt the bottom of that mountain range, which bends west to form the southern border of the San Joaquin Valley, which is where I live. Coupled with an extremely dry winter, the Southern California county of Los Angeles quickly found itself dealing with a series of large, fast-moving fires.

Satellite image showing smoke from the fires

Continuing west, those winds flow through passes in the coastal mountains and foothills—which serve as tunnels— toward the coast. The winds on January seventh reached 100 miles per hour in places.

Those fires, coupled with extra dry air, picked up sparks which quickly exploded into large conflagrations. Although the heart of Los Angeles itself seems to be an island not affected by those winds as strongly, it is surrounded on both sides by terrain that carry these winds toward the coast. 

The first large fire, the Pacific Palisades fire, was only one of five large fires and numerous small fires that threatened the Los Angeles county area alone.

The Pacific Palisades fire—which spread north into Malibu—was quickly joined by the Eaton, Hurst, Kenneth, and Lidia fires. 

As of today, over 5,000 firefighters from all over the Western states and Mexico, along with their fire engines and water tenders, are working to put out those fires. I know many cities in the San Joaquin Valley, including some from the country where I live, have joined the fire suppression effort. Some progress has been made. Between the high winds, some at speeds that prevent flying water tankers from leaving the ground, and steep, brush-laden terrain, it has been a challenging battle. 

The fires threatened Mount Wilson, the location of the Wilson Astronomical Observatory. Having lived in that area, I was worried about the observatory. 

The biggest concern for emergency personnel was that this mountain is also the location of a multitude of towers that support the antennas and repeaters necessary for radio transmission and other forms of communication that first responders, radios, and television stations rely upon. The firefighters made a point to keep the flames from the nearby Eaton fire away from that mountain.

To see a photograph of Mount Wilson that shows the towers, please CLICK HERE. If you scroll down through the article, you will see a nice photograph of the observatory, which was not damaged by the fire. 

Although many fires have been put out, the Eaton fire is only 68 percent contained. 

The Pacific Palisades fire is still going ten days after it began. It started in the eastern foothills and burned a wide path of destruction all the way down to the beach. Although I do not have a photograph from a public domain site, many people fleeing the fire, because of traffic jams on Highway One, which follows the coastline, were forced to abandon their transportation to flee on foot. Our local television station showed video clips of bulldozers pushing abandoned vehicles off the road so that firefighting trucks could get through. 

As of today, the Pacific Palisades fire is only 31 percent contained. To view a recent photo of the destruction, including the burned buildings within a matter of feet from the Pacific Ocean, please CLICK HERE. (Ignore the political stuff. Concentrate on the pictures.)

All told, the fires in Los Angeles and neighboring Ventura counties have burned 14,000 acres, destroyed over 12,400 structures, resulted in 205,000 people being evacuated from their homes, and—at last count—claimed twenty-seven lives. Because so many areas are still too dangerous to be searched, the death toll is expected to rise. 

Although much of the fire took place in sparsely populated foothills, several fires leveled blocks and blocks of suburban neighborhoods and business districts. Between all of the fires, over sixty-three square miles of ground have been burned—larger than the areas of San Francisco, Las Vegas, and several large cities. 

The severity of the Santa Ana winds have diminished and increased. A day or two after the initial 98-100 mph wind speeds, firefighters were expected to be happy the next day brought only 50 mph wind speeds. The winds have let up and returned several times, with one short reprieve, which brought cooler air and humidity in off the ocean. Unfortunately, those Santa Ana winds are still in the forecast.

Currier & Ives postcard depicting Great Chicago Fire

Back to the Great Chicago Fire in 1871. Many of us have heard about Mrs. O’Leary’s cow that kicked over a lantern, which is reputed to have been the cause of that fire. Like many elements of the fires that Southern California experienced these past ten days, it took place in a city setting—closely placed buildings dense with human and animal population. 

 

It was all many could do to flee the fire. Many started out driving a wagon. Because of the streets being so packed with other people also trying to evacuate the area, they were forced to abandon their vehicles and the majority of possessions inside and proceed on foot the best they could. 

 Many fled to Lake Michigan.

 

 This fire took place on October 8th through the 10th, 1871. The fire killed approximately 300 people, destroyed roughly 3.3 square miles of the city including over 17,000 structures. More than 100,000 residents were left homeless. The fire began in a neighborhood southwest of the city center. A long period of hot, dry, windy conditions, and the wooden construction prevalent in the city, led to the conflagration spreading quickly. 

 

The fire leapt the south branch of the Chicago River and destroyed much of central Chicago and then crossed the main stem of the river, consuming the Near North Side.

The photo I used for this post’s header was actually of firefighters working on a structure in the Pacific Palisades fire. However, a look at some of the photos of burned structures taken after the Chicago fire was finally over shows some interesting similarities.

A Wikipedia article featuring the details of the 2025 wildfires in Southern California, which, at this point in time, I suspect is updated frequently, may be found by CLICKING HERE.

My next book, which uses the Great Chicago Fire as one of its plot elements, is The Bride Who Invades Saloons. This book is currently on pre-order. To find the book description and pre-order link, please CLICK HERE