Great Fires of California (Natural Disasters Series)

Though there are many advantages to living in California, the dry, windy, hot weather during the spring, summer and autumn months can create life-and property-endangering wildfires. They can spread to disastrous proportions when fanned by strong, dry winds known as the "Diablo winds" in the northern part of the state and the Santa Ana winds in the south. Only the bravery of the Los Angeles County and City Fire Departments have kept these conflagrations from taking more lives. Lately in the news, these vintage documentaries show that major fires in California are nothing new - but a fear that has lived in the hearts of residents of the Golden State for decades.

DESIGN FOR DISASTER (1962): The Bel-Air Fire started as a brush fire in the wealthy community of Bel-Air on November 6, 1961. Lasting four days, it destroyed nearly 500 homes, including those of many celebrities. New laws and fire safety policies, such as the banning of wood shingle roofs, had to be implemented afterwards by the city of Los Angeles. The City Fire Department also created this informative documentary about the disaster, featuring hard-boiled narration from William Conrad and some of the same foreboding stock music utilized in Ed Wood's bad movie classic Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959).

FIRE AT MALIBU (1957): Pulse-pounding footage of the Los Angeles County Fire Department's three-day-long battle against a wildfire in the Malibu Mountains combined with audio from the January 20, 1957 episode of CBS Radio Workshop, "Fire at Malibu", also narrated by Conrad. William Conrad's voice is instantly recognizable as the narrator of the classic cartoon series Rocky and Bullwinkle (1959-1964) as well as countless roles from the days of old-time radio, including Marshal Matt Dillion on Gunsmoke (1952-1961). He also starred in the popular television series Cannon (1971-1976) and Jake and the Fatman (1987-1992).

COUNTDOWN TO CALAMITY (1971): Countdown to Calamity illustrates in dramatic detail how California's state agencies coordinated to combat the Laguna Fire, a humongous wildfire that lasted from September 22 to October 4, 1940 in the Laguna Mountains. Their efforts led to the creation of FIRESCOPE, an indispensable multi-agency cooperative emergency response coordination entity servicing the state of California. Even over fifty years later, the Laguna Fire still counts as one of the largest wildfires to ever rage across California. The film's soundtrack borrows from the Japanese kaiju classic The War of the Gargantuas (1966).