Photos: Scenes From the November 1961 Bel Air Fire Disaster

NBC4LA ^ | June 10, 2020

[BenLurkin]

In November 1961, a disastrous brush fire destroyed nearly 500 homes when it roared over a mountain ridge and swept through canyons in Los Angeles' Bel Air community, a grim illustration of the potential for wildfire devastation in a densely populated area surrounded by steep terrain and dry brush.

[BenLurkin]

pics at the link

[PGR88]

I like this one..

[ClearCase_guy]

Richard Nixon. On a roof. With a hose. Fighting a forest fire. Nicely dressed.

First Lady Michelle Obama, representing our country.

[Blue Collar Christian]

All this because you drive a full size pickup.

[montag813]

Richard Nixon. On a roof. With a hose. Fighting a forest fire. Nicely dressed.

A very sketchy roof.

[Alas Babylon!]

Ha! All pickups in 1961 were the same size!

[ClearCase_guy]

The Secret Service would never go up on a roof like that!

[ansel12]

His fire fighting clothes were pretty close to his beach wear.

By the way, the picture points points out that the roof isn’t the best place to store the driest fire wood in the area, when you look at those decades old shingles, thin and spending their life in the sun, it almost makes one cringe.

[PGR88]

And look at that sad stream of water from the garden hose.

That wouldn’t put out the flames of hot dog cook-out.

[woodbutcher1963]

Those are all Western Red Cedar wooden shakes on that roof too.

Not too many fire prone places have wooden roofs anymore.

[montag813]

The Secret Service would never go up on a roof like that!

[Pollard]

How could we have known? Highly unusual. Once in a lifetime

It's been written about for over 100 years. Mus be meh climate change. The Beach Boys had a song named Santa Ana Winds. Here are 20+ songs that mention Santa Ana Winds with the title being Santa Ana Winds on half a dozen or so - https://californiaherps.com/info/songsgroups/SongsThatMentionTheSantaAnaWinds.html

Images from Steve Milloy on X - @JunkScience

[montag813]

the roof isn’t the best place to store the driest fire wood in the area, when you look at those decades old shingles, thin and spending their life in the sun, it almost makes one cringe.

Look at those nails. Dick probably hammered them in himself to buttress the existing shingles. I think this was his mother's house in Whittier.

[nwrep]

Did Nixon ever look young? He always looked like a middle aged man, even in his 20s.

[Macho MAGA Man]

Cedar Shake Shingle roof is what Nixon is standing on. I have them on my house.

[ABN 505]

I was thinking the exact thing, you have a good memory. The media made a big deal about Nixon and his beachwear.

[Responsibility2nd]

Great photo op if ever I saw one.

“Wait, let me put on a tie.”

[Wuli]

On the Nixon photo: A cedar shake roof; what could possibly be wrong with that in that environment??? /sarc

[bravo whiskey]

Reminds me of the picture of Shostakovich standing on the roof of the Hermitage during the early days of the siege of Leningrad. He was later evacuated by air.