Who remembers? (Los Angeles, Brentwood: houses, construction, school)

[Fontucky]

I do, like it was yesterday. I remember seeing the stark forest of chimneys sitting up there on the hills for years after the fire whenever we'd drive through Sepulveda Pass.

Hillside heroes of the Bel Air/Brentwood fire reunite - latimes.com


Bel-Air fire - Framework - Photos and Video - Visual Storytelling from the Los Angeles Times

[Patrolman]

Me, too. My Dad was LAPD (like me) and spent a couple of long days up there.

[SandyCo]

I just watched a video on the Bel Air fire last night (it's on the LAFD's website). At the end it talks about how brush fires spread, and the danger of wood shingle roofs, etc. (But since I wasn't born yet, nope, don't remember it!)

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Before my time but I grew up hearing people talk about it.

[Fontucky]

It's hard to believe now, but back in the day most of the houses in the hills had cedar shake shingles. Some even had them on the sides of the houses.

[CapnHawk]

I was in grade school at the time of the Bel Air fire. I later served as a LAFD firefighter up in that area for about 12 years.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Originally Posted by Fontucky

It's hard to believe now, but back in the day most of the houses in the hills had cedar shake shingles. Some even had them on the sides of the houses.

There are houses nearby me that still have shake roofs, which is scary, since my current biome is not all that different from Bel Air! Chaparral alternating with open oak woodland. Where I'm located has not been burned off since the early 1900s!

[Fontucky]

Originally Posted by CapnHawk

I was in grade school at the time of the Bel Air fire. I later served as a LAFD firefighter up in that area for about 12 years.

Little did I know at the time that I'd be fighting wildland fires within 10 years of that fire.

[Samoi137]

I grew up in Van Nuys and remember seeing the flames from that fire, and many others over the years in the surrounding hillsides. For a while my mother worked for the LAPD and told us stories, from officers, about helping the LAFD in the battles against the blazes, including sad stories of seeing wild animals run from the flames towards the people and then back into the fires.

[MovingAloha]

WOW! I do remember. My Dad worked in construction at the time, and he ended up assisting his boss in re-building his home. Interesting that some 30 plus years later I would be living in the Bay area during the time of the Oakand Hills fire.