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California Fire Siege
Fire Events and Policy

1989
The California Legislature added the FIRESCOPE program to the California
Health and Safety Code and authorized OES, in cooperation with CAL FIRE
and the State Fire Marshal, to carry out the program.

1990
The Paint Fire in Santa Barbara County killed one resident and destroyed
479 homes and other major buildings. Researchers from the University
of California, Berkeley, conducted a study of the causal factors that led to
structure damage. The study found that 86% of the buildings survived when
they had both 30 feet of vegetation clearance and an ignition resistant roof.
Researchers also found that approximately 90% of buildings are completely
destroyed once they catch fire.

1991
In October 1991 the Oakland Hills fire burned 1,600 acres, killed 25 people
and destroyed 2,900 homes. The fire was almost completely within the city
limits of Oakland and Berkeley and was considered an urban conflagration
rather than a wildland or urban intermix. Six acres of SRA wildland burned
on the perimeter of the fire. Combustible roofing material was implicated in
the spread of fire. The high density of structures contributed to extreme radiant
heat that spread fire to adjacent structures.

1993
The Laguna Beach fire alone destroyed 441 homes. The October 1993 fire siege
in Southern California resulted in four fatalities and 1,200 structures destroyed.
After the fire, residents formed the Laguna Coast FIRESAFE Council to help
protect the region from future disasters.
The California Legislature passed the Standardized Emergency Management
System (SEMS) Act for California. SEMS required state agencies responding
to emergencies to use a standardized management system. Incident Command
System (ICS) is a component of SEMS.

1994
Thirty-four wildland firefighters were killed while fighting fires in the United
States, prompting the five federal wildland fire agencies to review federal fire
management policy and programs.

1995
A new federal fire management policy was adopted. The policy concluded:

• The first priority in wildland fire management is the protection of human
life.

• The second priority is the protection of natural resources, cultural
resources, and property.
• Wildland fire, as a critical natural process, must be reintroduced into the
ecosystem.

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