LA's Freeway Complex Fire

Flames in Brea & Green River, Orange Cty

What was to become the Freeway Complex and later the Triangle Complex Fire began Saturday morning, November 15, just off the 91 Freeway near Green River in the Corona area. High winds rapidly pushed the fire out of Corona and into bordering Orange County in a matter of minutes. Resources from multiple fire departments were dispatched at once.

There was a devastating fire burning in Northern L.A. City that had started the previous evening. That fire had drained most of the region's resources, which would play a part in the devastation that was to come in Orange County later that day.

This new fire was growing rapidly and bearing down on inhabited areas. A rapidly budding smoke column was burning in the east. In addition to the fire off Green River, another one had broken out in Brea and it too looked quite menacing. In Anaheim Hills/Yorba Linda structures were burning.

"Looky-loos" had merged with people fleeing the area and gridlock along the major thoroughfares toward Weir Canyon and the 91 Freeway from the Yorba Linda Blvd. corridor blocked a large apartment complex that was starting to ignite.

Up Esperanza and into Hidden Hills Estate fire was bearing down on the area. People sat on lawn chairs, with many snapping photos with cell phones or digital cameras. There were no fire department resources in the area at all.The fire would be there in 30 minutes or less-it was one ridge away at that time, maybe ¾ of a mile- residents needed to get their valuables and go!

Some started to leave, but many remained. The fire had rapidly backed down the hill, hit the drainage at the bottom of the canyon, and sprung up the other side in 10 minutes. Winds at the time were sustained at about 60mph with higher gusts.

People jumped in their cars and fled the area, some at the end sheltered in their cars along the roadway as the main front blew through while they were stuck in gridlocked traffic.

Orange County Fire Authority to advise them the Hidden Hills Estates had just been overrun and that there was no fire equipment on scene.

On Hidden Hills Road several large homes had thin wisps of smoke squirting out from the eaves of the roof. Blowing embers had found open attic vents or lodged themselves in roof tiles. Garden hoses were now dead as water pressure in the area lessened.

The first few fire engines were coming into the tract, but the response was not organized. Typically Strike Teams (five engines from any number of agencies plus a chief) ride into the scene. There were no helicopters or fixed wing aircraft overhead. The fires in Los Angeles and Brea had drained the massive amount of resources that were needed here.

Any home that was showing any sign of igniting was left to burn and the one or two engines at each location protected the structures around it. This fire was noteworthy for the speed at which it moved, and how it charged through the neighboring urban interface with no regard, rapidly making its way down the hills into the flatlands.