The Williams Fire started Sunday, September 22nd and was contained on October 1st.  It consumed 37,240 acres, destoyed 76 strucures, forced hundreds to evacuate their homes, and drove forest officals to close the Angeles National Forest to recreational uses.  Water-dropping helicopters, air tankers, and over 2,500 firefighters fought the wildfire.  Hundreds of people in the foothills were evacuated.

Dry brush that has not burned in decades was ignited and quickly spread fire over 75000 acres and threatened Camp Williams.  Temperatures of 95 degrees and one of the worst droughts in years forced the immediate activation of US Forest personnel who descended on the Sante Fe Dam Recreational area to set up a fire base camp.  Smoke from the Williams Fire settled over hundreds of square miles, from Riverside to Ventura County, the San Fernado Valley and north to the Antelope Valley, covering the area in gray.

The fire raged across miles of forest above  La Verne and other foothill communities, moving swiftly through the hills and canyons.  US Forest Service officials closed the 650,00 acre Angeles National Forest to visitors because of the high risk of other fires.  The heat wave, after a year of record low rainfall and nearly 40 years since a major fire raced through the area, added to the high fire danger.

The blaze broke out about 5pm along East Fork Road, 25 miles north of Azusa and about five miles from the origin of a September 1st fire that blackened 20,000 acres before it was contained 11 days later.  One firefighter was injured.  No other injuries have been reported.  Most of the firefighters concentrated their efforts on structure protection as they set backfires close to many homes as a method of protecting structures.

Fire crews from Burbank, Monrovia, Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, Torrance, Culver City, Montebello, Downey and the Los Angeles County Fire Department staffed posts in San Dimas Canyon Park, Follows Camp and Williams Camp to respond, if flames threatened structures in thoses areas. 

The fire spread as far east as Claremont, sending flames 60 feet high and masking the moon in smoke.  Firefighters minimized fire danger by cutting down and trimming trees.  Due to dry bush and steep mountain terrain, the power of the firefighting assault came by air because the terrain made it too difficult to send in fire crews.  However, some fire crews would cut a fire line to cut off the flames while aircraft attacked the inferno from the sky.  Firefighters from across the state were called to fight the blaze in round-the-clock shifts.  When not on the front line, firefighters camped at Santa Fe Dam in Irwindale.

The estimated cost of extinguishing the fire has been set at over $15 million.

Information collected from the Burbankfire.us website.