Edgar McGregor is a climatology senior at San Jose State University. He has collected litter from Eaton Canyon and other natural areas for over 1,400 days. Edgar's climate activist #EarthCleanUp account on Twitter has over 35,000 followers.
In Eaton Canyon, Halloween’s delight, Nature weaves its eerie spell at night. Beneath the moon’s enchanting, silver sheen, Spiders spin their webs, a sight to be seen.
Bats take flight, their wings of shadows dark, Across the velvet sky, they leave their mark. Through rustling leaves and whispered, ancient trees, They dance in twilight, carried by the Santa Ana breeze.
But amidst this beauty, a darker scene, Litterbugs disrupt the tranquil dream. They mar the landscape, casting shadows deep, On nature’s canvas, where her secrets keep.
Dead trees stand sentinel, their branches bare, A haunting chorus in the moonlit air. Yet even in decay, life finds its way, As nature’s spirits rise on Halloween day.
Eaton Canyon’s magic, a mysterious blend, Where nature’s wonders and spooks transcend. On this night of spirits, both eerie and grand, We find enchantment in this wondrous land.
Eaton Canyon, like much of Southern California, has evolved over millions of years to become accustomed to wildfire. Numerous plant species, including the Chaparral Yucca, Manzanita, California Buckwheat, and California Sagebrush, are all adapted to survive ferocious wildfires. Some native plant species, including the Fire Poppy, specifically need wildfire in order to clear out competition. Meanwhile, the native Coulter Pine found in upper Eaton Canyon needs wildfire in order to break open their pine cones and release their seeds. Wildfire has become a critical component to our local ecosystems over eons, though that hasn’t made it easier to watch these natural spaces experience such a massive disturbance.
Manzanita recovering in upper Eaton Canyon in August 2022, 13 years following the 2009 Station Fire
In the early morning hours of October 27, 1993, Andres Huang, 35, started a campfire in a small pine forest along the Mount Wilson Toll road to keep warm. Huang was a homeless man suffering from undiagnosed schizophrenia. Given heavy fuel loads in the area, this campfire quickly spread to nearby brush. By the time anybody else noticed the fire, it had already jumped into a nearby canyon and Huang had fled. The first call was received by Station 66 at 3:48 AM. It is unclear how long the fire went unnoticed.
For the first hour of the Kinneloa Fire, the blaze mostly spread uphill towards Henninger Flats while slowly backing down hill towards Altadena and lower Eaton Canyon. Just before 5 AM, however, the Santa Ana winds kicked in and the fire quickly took off. Relative humidity levels plummeted, temperatures rose despite it being nighttime, and winds of 40 MPH quickly fanned the flames to blow into lower Eaton Canyon. The Los Angeles County Fire Department quickly responded to the incident in fear of a much larger event. Incident command was established at the Midwick Trailhead as the fire began to race towards Altadena and Kinneloa Mesa. Initially, the fire spread southward down hill towards Eaton Wash. Coyote Canyon and Walnut Canyon were burned first. At around 5:30 AM, the fire reached the bottom of Eaton Canyon, destroying chaparral and riparian habitats. The fire also moved along the Mount Wilson Toll Road, trapping 15 firefighters who had to deploy their fire blankets.
At 5:45 AM, the wildfire reached Altadena Dr., and the Midwick incident command was briefly relocated to the Eaton Canyon Nature Center. Just after 6 AM on October 27, 1993, the Eaton Canyon Nature Center was brought to the ground and the incident command relocated to Victory Park. Built in 1963, the original Eaton Canyon Nature Center was a classic mid-century modern building named after the local civic leader Robert McCurdy. It burned near its 30th anniversary after being built.
The Kinneloa Fire erupted from here on, destroying 121 homes in the Altadena, Pasadena, and Kinneloa Mesa communities. Palm trees beside St. Luke’s Medical Center began to catch fire as embers rained from the sky throughout eastern Pasadena. The fire rose up from Eaton Wash to Kinneloa Mesa in just 90 seconds, causing multiple homes to go down in flames. The fire also jumped the mouth of Eaton Canyon and began racing westward along the Altadena Crest Trail. The Kinneloa Fire was able to burn homes as far away as Glen Canyon to the east and Zane Grey Terrace to the west. In the end, 5,485 acres were torched, 196 structures were destroyed, and 38 people were injured. There was 1 direct fatality, and 2 indirect fatalities. Multiple other fires began that day throughout Southern California in what is now known as the 1993 Southland Firestorm.
A map of everywhere the Kinneloa Fire touched
Over a week later on November 9th, 98-year-old Alfred Wagner died of pneumonia caused by smoke inhalation. In March 1994, a flash flood that tore down Bailey Canyon in Sierra Madre killed 33 year old John Henderson and his 9 year old son, Matthew. The flash flood was made significantly more lethal by the scorched landscape which was unable to absorb water.
The 1993 Kinneloa Fire remains the most recent fire to thoroughly burn Eaton Canyon to this day. In 2009, the Station Fire was able to burn the western quarter of upper Eaton Canyon, though the fire was not severe and left most trees alive. There have been many small fires since then, including a 1-acre blaze below the Midwick trailhead in February 2018. After 30 years of no major fires, Eaton Canyon is one of the most fuel-dense areas of the Angeles National Forest. Upper Eaton Canyon beyond Idlehour Campground did not burn in 1993, and the last fire there was the Pinecrest Fire in 1979. It is a question of when, not if, the next wildfire will destroy Eaton Canyon. As we have learned from the towns of Paradise, Santa Rosa, and Lahaina, a significantly worse wildfire than the Kinneloa Fire is very possible in Altadena.
In 1995, a severe storm set a wall of mud thundering down Moist Canyon, burying parts of Eaton Wash in up to 15 feet of mud. This debris flow pushed Eaton Creek to the Nature Center side of the wash where it remains today. The large alluvial plain created by this flood can also still be seen today. The 2005 flood was made worse by the 1993 Kinneloa Fire, though 12 years of fuel growth prevented more serious flooding. The next wildfire will prepare any major storm over the following 15 years to completely reorder Eaton Wash.
The Eaton Canyon Conservation Group set out to remove a large castor bean grove located on the east side of the equestrian area this past Saturday, October 14, 2023. With a total of 12 volunteers in tow, Conservation Chair Max Yasuda began at 9:00 AM as a partial solar eclipse neared its maximum point. With the sun being unable to heat the ground, the crew hacked away at several huge, 30′ tall castor bean plants. Within the hour, the trees came down and were being hauled away. Other volunteers spent time carefully pulling the seeds off the castor beans to dispose of them properly. This particular area had been mired in the castor bean species for many years, and native species were nearly entirely choked out.
According to Conservation Chair Max Yasuda, this particular area is important as it is a “wildlife corridor, allowing animals such as mountain lions and bobcats to travel between the city and the mountains.”
Castor beans, also known as Ricinus communis, are native to northeast Africa in Ethiopia and Somalia. They have been cultivated in many other regions of the world and are incredibly invasive. Castor beans grow quickly, reproduce widely and rapidly, soak enormous amounts of water out of the soils, and can lay waste to the biodiversity of any native ecosystems they are introduced to. Following the landfall of Tropical Storm Hilary in Southern California in August, these invasive castor bean plants exploded in Eaton Canyon. Several hillsides are completely covered in them. Volunteers have been doing their best to keep them contained to certain areas that require crews to handle, but they are growing faster than we can remove them.
If you would like to help, please join the next conservation group meetup in November. You can sign up here.
