This panorama shows flame-scourged "death hill" where most of the victims of the Griffith Park fire met death in a raging inferno which caught up with them as they climbed for life up the slope shown in the right foreground. The men, workers on the county charities rolls, were laboring on roads high on the hills in background when a brush fire broke out in the park and they went down through the ravines to fight it. A breeze suddenly lashed the fire around the hill from the right and trapped the victims. The roaring flames spread at a speed of 35 or 40 miles per hour and the men, climbing up the steep hill were enveloped in flames and perished, some of them cluthing at bushes and rocks, some of them trying to save fallen comrades. Others who ran sideways to the blaze escaped. When the fire was extinguished the bodies were carried from the hillside to a girls' camp at left. Twenty-six bodies have been recovered from the "No Man's Land" where the flames raged into Dam Canyon and Mineral Wells Canyon. Photo dated: October 7, 1933.
If you're wondering about permissions and what you can do with this item, a good starting point is the "rights information" on this page. See our terms of use for more tips.
Share your story
Has Calisphere helped you advance your research, complete a project, or find something meaningful? We'd love to hear about it; please send us a message.