The Laguna Fire, also known as the Kitchen Creek Fire or the Boulder Oaks Fire, was a wildfire that burned from September 22 to October 4, 1970, in the Laguna Mountains and East County region of San Diego County in Southern California. It was one of many wildfires in a massive conflagration that spanned across the state from September 22 to October 4, 1970. At the time, it was the second-largest fire in the recorded history of California after the 1932 Matilija Fire
Progression
The Laguna Fire was started by downed power lines during Santa Ana winds in the Kitchen Creek area of the Laguna Mountains on the morning of September 26, 1970. In only 30 hours, it burned westward about to the outskirts of El Cajon and Spring Valley. The fire devastated the communities of Harbison Canyon and Crest. In the end, the fire burned before it was contained on October 3, 1970.
Cal Fire records the Laguna Fire as having destroyed 382 structures, but reporting by The San Diego Union-Tribune indicates that that figure accounts only for the number of homes destroyed, with more than 1,000 additional structures (such as outbuildings or commercial buildings) lost.