All across the Santa Monica Mountains, the devastating Woolsey fire exacted both a psychic and physical toll on local history and connections to an unlikely stretch of wilderness that — through dogged conservation — persists despite the surrounding urban sprawl. The fire has destroyed at least 435 buildings, and about 57,000 structures are still threatened.
The Santa Monica Mountains, which stretch from Hollywood Hills to Point Mugu in Ventura County, have long offered Southern Californians a respite from the city below with the range’s array of hiking trails, waterfalls and rock pools. And its sprawling ranch land has given Hollywood real-world ties to the frontier life it exhaustively depicted on screen.
Nine-year-old Landon Quirk came with his father, Trevor Quirk, to help search through the rubble of a friend’s home in the Seminole Springs Mobilehome Park on Mulholland Drive in Agoura Hills destroyed by the Woolsey fire.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
A man stands in the middle of the street at the Seminole Springs mobile home park in Malibu Lake after the Woolsey fire roared through the community.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
Matt Sexton goes through the rubble from his house in Seminole Springs after the Woolsey Fire roared through Malibu.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
Matty Winters, 13, hands her father, Shannon, a memento from what’s left of their home at the Seminole Springs mobile home park in Malibu Lake community.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
Bell Canyon residents Ann and Roger Bloxberg watch the Woolsey fire at the mouth of Bell Canyon after evacuating.
(Michael Owen Baker / For The Times)
A Southern California Edison employee hoses down a hotspot off Kanan Rd . The crew was in the area to check for hotspots around powerlines.
(Stuart W. Palley / For The Times)
Firefighters working to put out hotspots in and around structures destroyed by the Woolsey fire watch as a plume of smoke rises from near the Chatsworth reservoir.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
Onlookers watch smoke from the Woolsey fire and take photos on PCH looking Southeast toward Malibu.
(Stuart W. Palley / For The Times)
Mayor and firefighter Rick Mullen surveys a house on fire in Malibu as the Woolsey Fire continues its path to the coast.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
Resident Brett Hammond evacuates in Malibu as the Woolsey Fire approaches.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
An owl sits onthe beach in Malibu as the Woolsey Fire approaches.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
Horses are tied to a pole on the beach in Malibu as the Woolsey Fire continues to burn.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
Llamas are tied to a lifeguard stand on the beach in Malibu as the Woolsey Fire appraoches.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
Jackie Brody waits for a wave while surfing in Malibu as the Woolsey Fire continues to burn.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
A resident evacuates his home on Quinta Vista Drive and East Hillcrest Road in Thousand Oaks early Friday morning. Residents were awoken in the middle of the night by mandatory evacuations from the Woolsey Fire.
(Stuart W. Palley / For The Times)
A firefighter extinguishes brush threatening a home on Quinta Vista Drive and East Hillcrest Road in Thousand Oaks from the Woolsey Fire.
(Stuart W. Palley / For The Times)
Firefighters battle a house fire on Churchwood Drive as the Woolsey Fire burns in the Oak Park neighborhood.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
A home destroyed by the Woolsey fire on Liverpool Court near Colchester Drive in Oak Park.
(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
An L.A. County firefighter climbs a railing with a shovel to try to contain burning palm trees during the Woolsey Fire in Malibu.
(Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times)
Horses are turned loose at the top of Las Trancas Canyon in Malibu Friday as the Woolsey Fire approaches.
(Stuart W. Palley / For The Times)
Residents with a home on Las Trancas Canyon Road watch as the Woolsey fire approaches their home in Malibu.
(Stuart W. Palley / For The Times)
Sheriff’s deputies block off Mulholland Drive in Malibu as the Woolsey fire continues its path towards the coast.
(Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times)
Gabi Frank runs with Jonah, 7, and Augie, 10, as workers hose down plants to protect a home on Pacific Coast Highway during the Woolsey fire in Malibu.
(Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times)
Smoke billows behind a building and palm trees along Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu.
