Station Fire Wasn't Taken as Seriously in First Couple Days

The Station Fire rages on Friday, August 28 near La Canada Flintridge. | Photo by Tom Andrews/LAist

An LA Times investigation this weekend revealed that the response to the Station Fire was scaled back when officials underestimated the power of the blaze. Such an error in judgement is expected to change policy when a fire is ablaze in the lower Angeles National Forest near residential neighborhoods.

The still-burning Station Fire began on Wednesday, August 26th around 3:20 p.m. By the next morning, it was 20 percent contained. It then quickly grew to 300 acres with containment downgraded to 10 percent that afternoon. At nightfall, it grew out-of-control, threatening some 500 homes, prompting evacuations. On Friday morning, the conflagration was downgraded again, this time to zero percent with 1,500 acres burned. It eventually became the largest fire in modern L.A. County history, burning roughly 250 square miles.