San Gabriel Complex Fire

San Gabriel Complex Fire
Smoke rising from the Fish Fire approximately 2 hours after it started.
Date(s)	June 20, 2016 (2016-06-20) - July 23, 2016 (2016-07-23)
Location	Angeles National Forest, Los Angeles County, California
Statistics
Burned area	5,399 acres (22 km2)
Impacts
Deaths	1 civilian
Ignition
Cause	Vehicle Crash (Reservoir Fire) Under Investigation (Fish Fire)
Map
Location in Los Angeles

The San Gabriel Complex Fire was a wildfire that burned in the Angeles National Forest, Los Angeles County. The fire was the combination of two separate fires, the Reservoir Fire and the Fish Fire.

Events

A DC-10 Tanker Drops Fire Retardant on San Gabriel Complex Fire.

Around 11 A.M. on June 20, the first fire was reported in the San Gabriel Mountains along Highway 39 near the Morris Reservoir. As the flames quickly spread to over 1,500 acres (6.1 km²), the Azusa Police Department issued mandatory evacuations for the neighborhoods of Rainbow Ranch and Mountain Cove.

Over an hour later, a second fire erupted in Fish Canyon. Dubbed the Fish fire, the blaze would explode up and across the canyons above Duarte as it'd consume 400 acres to then 1,000 acres within just two hours of burning. By 9 p.m. the Fish Fire had spread to over 3,000 acres (12 km²).

By Tuesday Morning, June 21, authorities declared that the two fires would be run as a combined incident known as the San Gabriel Complex Fire. Additionally, FEMA issued a statement that the fire posed enough of a threat to cause major destruction that it constituted a major disaster, thus qualifying the incident for federal assistance.

Effects

The fire caused widespread power outages in Azusa Canyon which resulted in smaller water systems being placed under a precautionary “Boil Water” order by the Los Angeles County Public Health Department to prevent possible bacterial contamination.

As a result of the fires, the communities of Mountain Cove in Azusa, Rainbow Ranch and portions of Duarte were put under a mandatory evacuation order that would last several days as the fires burned.

Cause

On June 20, the deputy chief of the Los Angeles County Fire Department stated that the Reservoir Fire had been caused by a fatal vehicle accident near the Morris Reservoir. The fire had been ignited when a vehicle veered off Highway 39 and then colliding with the descending mountainside alongside the highway. The driver, Michael Spengler, died at the scene as a result of multiple blunt force and thermal injures relating to the crash and subsequent fire, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner website.

The cause of the Fish Fire remains under investigation.