Introduction
Also called 2003 California Firestorm, or just the 2003 Firestorm, these are a series of wildfires which occurred primarily in the last week of October 2003. These fires displayed "extreme fire behavior" due to a combination of drought, low humidity, strong winds, and a buildup of material that acted as fuel for the fire. An increase in ambient humidity throughout the area starting October 29th and precipitation beginning on November 1st were two major factors in bringing the fires to an end. As multiple fires were burning at the same time, resources were stretched thin and the logistics of deciding what should be committed where (or held back on 'standby') complicated firefighting operations.
The 2003 California Firestorm is an early example of the extreme wildfires, often fueled by dry conditions and high winds linked to global warming, which have repeatedly raged in the Western US and elsewhere in the 21st century. The report "California Fire Siege 2003: The Story" (linked in 'Online Resources') was created in recognition that these sorts of events would become increasingly common.
Major Fires in the 2003 Fire Siege
This fire was reported north of the city of San Bernardino at 9:17 AM on Saturday, October 25th, 2003. Rickie Lee Fowler was convicted in 2012 of 2 counts of arson and 5 counts of murder related to starting the fire with a road flare thrown into some dry brush (Fowler confessed to being the one to light and throw the flare, but later recanted). Civilian deaths associated with this fire are all from heart attacks attributed to the stress of evacuation or loss of property. The Mountain Area Safety Taskforce (MAST) for San Bernardino and Riverside Counties had engaged in extensive interagency pre-event planning for an event such as this one, and is credited with facilitating interagency cooperation and a successful evacuation of San Bernardino and the surrounding areas. The fire was 96% contained by November 4th.
The then-largest wildland fire in California history, this fire began as a signal fire grown out of control in Cleveland National Forest late in the day on October 25th (the lost hunter who started it eventually pled guilty to starting an illegal fire on federal property). This fire would kill 15 people, 14 civilians and 1 firefighter. Most casualties were caught by the fire while trying to evacuate. A decision not to evacuate the Barona Valley Ranch Casino early on in the fire was later praised in a US Forest Service and California Dept. of Forestry Fire Safety Review as saving the lives of those who would have been trapped as the fire spread through Wildcat Canyon. A single firefighter line of duty death (LODD) occurred on October 29th, when 4 firefighters in the town of Julian were overrun by a flaming front while defending structures on Orchard Lane. All were burned, and one died trying to get to shelter in a residence. The fire was declared 100% contained on November 4th.
Roblar 2 Fire: This was the first fire of the siege, starting on October 21, 2003.
Verdale Fire: This fire started Friday, October 24th, 2003, and would later be divided in two when it jumped over Highway 126. The flames north of the highway would continue to be known as the Verdale fire, while those south of the highway would be considered the Simi Fire.
Paradise and Otay Fires: Along with the Cedar Fire, these wildfires burned through 13% of San Diego County.
Resources
The Fire Outside My Window by Call Number: SD421.32.C2 .Y68 2013ISBN: 9780762791804Publication Date: 2013-09-03"The Fire Outside My Window reveals the story of the Cedar Fire, at that time the largest fire in California's recorded history, which ravaged the San Diego area in late 2003, burning nearly 280,000 acres, destroying more than 2,200 homes and hundreds of other buildings, and killing 15 people. Leaving her doomed home the night of the catastrophe, the author, Sandra Millers Younger, drove through flames and, along with her husband, was saved by a bobcat that showed her the road she couldn't see through dense smoke. With this revealing narrative, she takes readers into the heart of an epic firefight, telling the stories of fire managers and air tanker pilots trying to combat a catastrophe bigger than they had ever imagined, and recounting both survivors' and victims' desperate efforts to escape flames moving faster than fire engines could drive. And she tells the story of the hapless hunter who got lost in the backcountry, with little water and no cell phone or GPS device, and started a signal fire that caused the calamity."--publisher- Firestorm 2003 byCall Number: SD421.32.C2 .S26 2004Publication Date: 2004This book contains photos of the 2003 Firestorm in and around San Diego, including the Cedar Fire and Paradise Fire. Most photos were taken by photographers from the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Articles marked IN-PERSON are available at the IFSI Library's physical location. Clicking on the link will take you to the catalog record. Those marked ONLINE can be directly accessed by clicking on the link.
- IN-PERSON - Fire Rescue - Enduring the StormThis article from the February 2004 issue of Fire Rescue magazine contains testimony from several San Diego Fire-Rescue Department line officers about the events of the Cedar Fire and the lessons they learned from their experiences.
- ONLINE - Firefighter Nation - Lessons Learned from San Diego County's 2003 & 2007 FirestormsThis article considers tactics for protecting homes in the wildland-urban interface area through the lens of the Cedar Fire.
- Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center - Cedar Fire Entrapment FatalityThe Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center collects primary sources, such as investigative reports by various state, federal, and independent agencies, concerning wildland firefighting line of duty deaths. This collection of resources deals with the line of duty death in Julian, California on October 29th, 2003.
- Homeland Security Digital Library - California Fire Siege 2003: The StoryThis report published by the California Dept. of Forestry and Fire Protection is split into three main sections:
- Prelude to the Siege (events and decisions leading up to the fire)
- The Daily Update (a day-to-day chronology of the siege, including separate subsections on each currently active fire)
- Issues and Strategies (an analysis of decisions made during the fire, why they were made, and what lessons they hold for the future). - Mission-Centered Solutions - Southern California Firestorm 2003"This report was prepared by two private consulting firms with the input of federal agency employees for the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center." (back of title page)
“… its primary purpose is to report how people overcame challenges when the demands of the fire situation exceeded the capacity of the rules and the system to provide answers…” (pg.1) - NBC7 San Diego - San Diego's firestorm: A look at the devastating 2003 wildfires, 20 years laterNBC7 gathers together a video of fire chiefs discussing the Cedar Fire, a statistics sheet on the Cedar, Otay, and Paradise Fires, multiple news stories on fire restoration and prevention efforts, raw footage of the fire, and more.
- Wildland Fires Lessons Learned Center - Faces: The Story of the Victims of Southern California's 2003 Fire SiegeWritten by retired wildland fire management consultant Bob Mutch, this report covers the stories of the victims of the fires, some survivors' stories, and discusses how the choice is made by residents in areas threatened by wildfires to evacuate or stay.
WARNING: This report contains pictures of graphic burn injuries.