La Cañada History: High winds fan 600-acre brush fire on December night in 1999
Ten Years Ago
Local resident Michael Peevey, president of the California Public Utilities Commission and husband of state Sen. Carol Liu (D-La Cañada Flintridge) was reappointed to his post in December 2009 for another six-year term. Peevey, who has since retired, was first appointed to the position in March 2002 by Gov. Gray Davis.
Twenty Years Ago
High winds fanned a brush fire that broke out after 9 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 21, 1999 in the rugged terrain behind Verdugo Hills Hospital. The fire, which moved through Cherry Canyon in the Flintridge area and then into Glendale, burned around 600 acres and caused the evacuation of 100 homes. A Red Cross evacuation center was opened in the gym at La Cañada High School to assist those who were displaced overnight. About 500 firefighters supported by water-dropping airplanes and helicopters battled the fire, which continued into the next day. No injuries were reported.
Thirty Years Ago
In observance of National Drunk Driving Awareness Month, the remains of a mangled car that had been driven by an intoxicated person was on display at the Shell Station on Angeles Crest Highway just north of Foothill Boulevard. The Kiwanis Club of La Cañada sponsored the project.
Forty Years Ago
La Cañada’s second float for the Rose Parade, “Tea for Two,” was taking shape in late December 1979. The parade’s theme that year was “Music for America.”
Fifty Years Ago
On Christmas Day 1969, beginning at 12:30 p.m., the La Cañada Unified School District’s educational FM radio station, KUNF, aired Christmas music performed by students at Paradise Canyon Elementary, Foothill Intermediate and La Cañada High schools.
Sixty Years Ago
The California Highway Patrol substation on Angeles Crest Highway was making plans to handle the more than 80,000 cars expected to travel along Foothill Boulevard, Berkshire Avenue and Chevy Chase Drive in La Cañada en route to the Jan. 1, 1960 Rose Parade, Rose Bowl football game and races at Santa Anita Park. Also, the CHP put out reminders that the state’s new 65 miles per hour speed limit would go into effect that New Year’s Day, replacing a 55 mph limit.
Compiled from the Valley Sun archives.
