Woolsey Fire

The Woolsey Fire was a wildfire that burned in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties of the U.S. state of California. The fire ignited on November 8, 2018, and burned 96,949 acres (39,234 hectares) of land. The fire destroyed 1,643 structures, killed three people, and prompted the evacuation of more than 295,000 people. It was one of several fires in California that ignited on the same day, along with the nearby Hill Fire and the destructive Camp Fire in Northern California.

The fire started in Woolsey Canyon on the Santa Susana Field Laboratory property, and burned 80% of the site, a complex of industrial research and development buildings belonging to Boeing, in the Santa Susana Mountains above the Simi Valley near the boundary between Los Angeles and Ventura counties. The Santa Ana winds, which often are a factor for Southern California fires, pushed the fire in a southerly direction throughout the first day. The Ventura freeway between the San Fernando Valley and the Conejo Valley was closed as the fire crossed and headed into the rugged Santa Monica Mountains.

The fire raced through the chaparral-covered steep canyons where it encountered historic movie and TV sets, small ranches, and the houses of celebrities. Hundreds of houses in Malibu were destroyed or damaged on both sides of Pacific Coast Highway. Many of these were on Point Dume that juts out from the narrow coastal terrace that lies between the mountains and the Pacific Ocean. The mitigation measures Pepperdine University had in place successfully protected the campus, with students sheltering in place, to the south. The entire sparsely populated portion of the Malibu coast west to the community of Solromar, which includes state and national parklands, suffered damage from the fire. The fire cost at least $6 billion (2018 USD) in property damage.

Thousands of residents were kept away from their houses in numerous neighborhoods along the Ventura Freeway and the communities along the Malibu coast. The evacuations frustrated residents as they lasted for many days as the fire continued to threaten houses especially when the winds increased and fanned the flames. The evacuated residents were incrementally allowed to return to see if their houses were damaged or destroyed as the fire continued to spread through the rugged wilderness at the western end of the Santa Monica Mountains. Authorities in many of the damaged communities declared that they needed to prevent residents from returning quickly as neighborhoods were crowded with crews repairing downed power lines and other hazardous conditions. In the months after the fire, residents criticized what they thought was a slow and inadequate response by cities and counties during public meetings held by public officials.

While this and other fires were burning, President Donald Trump blamed poor forest management by the state. One fire scientist explained that forest management (good or bad) had a minor influence on the severity of the fires, and that Woolsey was not a forest fire.

The California Public Utilities Commission is investigating an equipment problem near the point of origin reported by Southern California Edison.