Catalina is burning
Live-ish Quicktime feed
Recent Flickr photos of the fire
Catalina Fire Lays Siege to Avalon
KABC story
Catalina Island, Wikipedia
Google Map of the fire area
This happened before, in 1915, and all of Avalon was reduced to cinders, despite the efforts of the townspeople, forming a bucket brigade and beating at the brushfires with wet sacks. The LATimes Archive has the original article available for purchase online. Thanks to the Sony Bono Copyright Act, I can’t repost it for you for at least another 3 years or so. It’s worth the $3.95 to read it online, or the trip to your local library to dig through the archives.
A quick excerpt:
“Among the waterfront structures that were reduced to ashes are: Baker Photo Company, Catalina Tuna Club, bath-house of Mather & Borchers, Hotel Mirimar and Mathewson’s boat Shop. Thirteen boats were burned with the last.”
Last time, 200 people were left homeless and the damage estimates were at $500,000.
I am heartbroken. Catalina and especially Avalon has been a very special place for me. My thoughts are with the families who make their homes on the island and the ground crews of firefighters working throughout the night to save the town.