10 Year Commemoration Event of the 2008 Freeway Complex Fire

Brea, California – While many communities throughout the state are courageously fighting wildfires saving both habitat lands and homes, locally we are reminded that the horrors of the Freeway Complex Fire ravaged our region just 10 years ago. The Freeway Complex Fire damaged or destroyed 280+ homes and burned 30,000+ acres across four counties. Ninety-five percent of Chino Hills State Park was consumed by flames. Hills For Everyone, the non-profit organization that founded Chino Hills State Park, has been closely involved with recovery efforts and is offering a free and informative exhibit on the fire. The Exhibit will be open from 10 AM to 2 PM on Saturday and Sunday, November 17 and 18 at the State Park Discovery Center at 4500 Carbon Canyon Road in Brea.

In the After Action Report, the Orange County Fire Authority recounts that the flames advanced nearly 14 football fields per minute and reminded all of us of the very real threat to life and property when Santa Ana Wind conditions collide with fire ignitions.

“It is important to honor and make note of the losses and lessons of the Freeway Complex Fire,” comments Claire Schlotterbeck, Executive Director of Hills For Everyone. “Following the trauma and devastation, residents and park supporters rolled up their sleeves to restore the land and do their part to create a safer landscape and neighborhoods.”

The event will feature colorful maps, graphic photos from around the hills, relevant articles, and real-time video from residents that witnessed and recorded the devastation first hand. The Freeway Fire prompted Hills For Everyone to complete a 100 year fire study to see where, why, and when fires burn. The highlight of Saturday will be a presentation by Nature of Wildworks with informative presentations featuring live wild animals like a red tail hawk, opossum, fox, kestrel and more!

“Fire scientists concluded that the best predictor of where a fire will burn in the future, is where it has already burned and we have the fire records to back this,” Schlotterbeck continues. “And yet, new hillside developments are proposed on lands that have burned numerous times over the past three decades. Let’s hope decision makers learned the lessons from the Freeway Complex Fire, Camp Fire or Woolsey Fire. The solution to these catastrophic mega-fires isn’t to build more homes at the Wildland-Urban Interface.”