The Santiago Canyon Fire of 1889 was a massive wildfire in California, which burned large parts of Orange County, Riverside County, and San Diego County during the last week of September 1889. Until 2018, it was possibly the single largest wildfire in the recorded history of California, with at least of land burned. In mid-August 2018, the Ranch Fire in the Mendocino Complex Fire surpassed the Santiago Canyon Fire in size. Assistant Regional Forester L.A. Barrett, who wrote a 1935 report on California wildfires, said of it: "I was living in Orange County at the time and well remember the great fire reported herein from September 24 to 26. Nothing like it occurred in California since the National Forests have been administered. In fact in my 33 years in the Service I have never seen a forest or brush fire to equal it. This one covered an enormous scope of country and burned very rapidly." Conditions leading up to the 1889 fire included a much longer and more severe annual drought than usual, with rains largely ceasing in March and less than of precipitation being recorded for the 5½ months prior. This was coupled with multiple katabatic wind events that month, one of which occurred about 10 days prior and likely added to the dryness of fuels. Temperatures during the week prior remained high and were coupled with several severe fires in San Diego County in which “at least have burned over, a dwelling house consumed and other property destroyed”.
Overview
In addition to the Santiago Canyon Fire, there were several other significant fires fanned by the same gale forceSanta Ana winds in San Diego and San Bernardino counties. The Santiago Canyon Fire was the largest and has been estimated as being greater than. Another wildfire in San Diego County at the time has been estimated to have been greater than. The Orange County fire burned through areas of chaparral and coastal sage scrub, as well as a number of farm fields in the Santa Ana Valley, where farmers attempted to control the fire by plowing ahead of it. A detailed analysis of the fire can be found in an article by Keeley and Zedler.
Size
USFS Regional Forester L.A. Barrett, in reference to the size stated that "Nothing like it occurred in California since the National Forests have been administered. In fact in my 33 years in the Service I have never seen a forest or brush fire to equal it." Since his career included the 1932 Matilija Fire, which was over, it can be inferred that the wildfire was much larger than 220,000 acres. A thorough study of newspaper accounts suggests it was on the order of, but some reports indicate that the Santiago Canyon Fire may have reached a size of, especially if it had merged with other large wildfires that were concurrently burning in San Diego County. Other estimates have claimed a smaller size.
Reports
One of the first reports of the fire was delivered by telegraph. Riverside Daily Press and Tribune reported on the fire by telegraph as follows: Daily San Diegan described the extent and damage wrought by the fire: Daily Courier reported on the events of the Santiago Canyon Fire and other nearby wildfires in Southern California:
