Bruce Adamson P.O. Box 3511, Santa Cruz, CA, 95063

It was Monday October 23, 1978 when Southern California came under attack by four large fires. There was the Mandeville Canyon fire (6,000 acres burned), Carbon Canyon fire in Orange County (5,600 acres burned), the Sierra Madre fire (1,400 acres burned) and the largest was the Agoura to Malibu fire (25,000 acres burned). The Malibu fire was the one that I ended up in. After it landed on the Pacific Ocean and when it was all over 186 homes were destroyed. Fifty homes were damaged and a total of161 homes were lost in the Agoura to Malibu fire. At least 50 people were injuried in the Agoura to Mailbu fire. Governer Jerry Brown declared state of emergency and President Carter was to make federal assistance available. Mayor Thomas Bradley ordered the Civil Defense and Disaster Corps into action. The Los Angeles County Sheriffs had announced that the largest fire "had been deliverately set."

The Los Angeles Times reported that 300 Animals 'Didn't Have a Chance.' They included kangaroos, a grinder monkey, Yes it was murder for they found a matchbook with a cigarette inserted in it!

I remember taking the RTD bus out to Trancas Beach and making the mile walk to a private beach just below Buddy Hackett's beach home. I would just lay out and tan and take swims all day. These were my plans. I first saw the smoke from the Mandeville Canyon fire and thought to myself: "Gee, I am glad I got away from that mess."

It was not long before I would get caught up in the center of the worst fire storm. John Mayall was performing in Arizona, when he learned that he had lost his beautiful beachfront home, I had passed his house on the way to my special spot beyond Broad Beach. A number of homes were lost at Broad Beach. Carroll O'Conner, Steve McQueen and Ali McGraw's were saved. On another occassion, I remember that my dog "Bumper" (whom I had lived outdoors for two years with) and Steve McQueen's dog almost got into it fight. Bumper and I lived outdoors for two years from 1976-78, but that's another story. The day started out beautiful, sunny day and dunk in the Pacific Ocean. I was soaking up the sun when all of sudden, I looked up and the sky was turning orange. I looked around and saw that a fire was going to ruin my day. The smoke was moving west because of the Santa Ana winds. I have never had experience in firefighting, but said to myself: "Let's get up to the coast highway and see if there is anything I can do to help out." Had I remained on the beach I might have been able to help some of the beach homes, like John Mayall's. One never knows! One thing is certain, if I could have done things differently, I would have started backfires to burn the fuel between the homes and the on coming fire. In large fires, I have never understand why the U.S. government does not use non-flamable bombs to put the fires out. They could literally blow out the brush or trees to cause a break.

Fire engines arrived from Redding, San Diego, Fresno and the San Francisco Bay Area. The Sacramento National Guard was put on alert and four aircraft were ordered readied to bring in troops if needed to help fight the fires. They were not needed for the damage happened so fast!

When I arrived at the Pacific Coast Highway there was one house on a small hill and decided this was the home to help. To the left there was a church Jehovah's Witness, which did not burn. The owner of the house ran a security patrol for Mailbu, and it was called Sentinel Patrol owned by John Goden. He had a garage with a $40,000 race car in it. We pushed it down to the highway and began loading up his car with family possessions such as photographs. The black smoke kept pouring into the home. I wondered "I better get out of here soon." It was scarey I could have gotten killed. When you are outside you are not as fearful as being in a house with black smoke rushing in. Outside one could not see the flames per se.

The garage was filled with about 16 arrowheard 5 gallon bottles of water. I carried them vainly up to the roof. When the flames were approaching the home I climbed up on the roof and started to pull the tops. Everyone had left, driving Sentinel's patrol cars down to Pacific Coast Highway. There may have been a few other people helping out. The owner came back up and called for me to get off the roof and gave me the keys to one of his Sentinel Patrol cars, I told him I would drive it to Point Dume.

It seems to me, that this Goden's home could have been saved if we had been allowed to start backfires. He got out in fair condition for he was a renter. The owner of the home was Earl Decker, a very historical name in the Mailbu Community. Decker Canyon is name in honor of their family. Earl Decker had lived in a smaller house on the same property that I had assisted Mr. Goden on this day. Possibly the home could have been saved if one had made their own molotov cocktails to burn the brush around the home before the main wave hit. My luck, had I done something like this, they would have arrested me for starting the Mailbut fire. I was on the roof when I could see the flames were approaching fast. I knew I had to get out, but fast. So I drove the Sentinel Patrol car down to the Pacific Coast Highway when I stumbled onto a young woman whose car had broken down. She was in tears when she said "Can you give me a ride." I responded and said to her "I am going to Point Dume," which is 3-5 miles south from where we were on Broad Beach. She said fine, after she sat on her yogurt in the front seat we made it to Point Dume without incident. When it was over Broad Beach had looked like 'a war zone.' St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Pacific Palisades was destroyed. Will Rodgers home had been saved and the paintings were removed when the fire reached within a 100 yards of the State Park.

At Sunset, Darlene Livingston was with her 16 month-old son Robert at the Malibu Sheriff's substation. "We've been searching for my parents since 3:00pm it was almost 6:00pm and getting very dark. Darlene had not been at her parents home in nearby Decker Canyon when the fire hit, but had spoken to her aunt in West Los Angeles. "My aunt told me my mom said 'The fire's at the back door. The well-pump is out because we don't have any electricity...Then the phone went out," so reported The Los Angeles Times. The property which Malibu Sheriff substation was located on was donated by The Adamson Family of Malibu also known as Cross Creek. CLICK HERE FOR Story and Photographs of Adamson House Museum a California State Park.

I drove about 90 miles an hour and briefly turned on the siren. I felt really cool, now that I was on the right side of the law. When we arrived at Point Dume, I left the car at the market and proceeded to a horse breeding ranch. I then made a mistake. I was truly in a state of panic and told this Arab looking man that the fire was approaching fast. The Santa Ana's were blowing. I told him to knock down the wooden fence to free his Arabian stallions. Keep in mind that traffic was very slow, the fire engines were only travelling about 20 miles per hour. So it was not like it was going to be a danger to the freed horses. At this time traffic was at a slow pace with only fire engines on the Pacific Coast Highway. He said his horses were very valuable and did not want to lose them. I said fine, "keep them locked up and you will lose them for the fire will be here shortly." I was wrong, yet he did what I said knocked down the gate. Now wild Horses were running across the Pacific Coast Highway with this man in hot pursuit. One would have had to been in the Broad Beach fire storm to realize the panic that I was feeling. I truly believed that the fire was going to rip through Point Dume.

The fire was burning in the canyon just north of Point Dume and that is as far as it had come to this man's ranch. After this error in judgment, I made my way to the hot spot and I remember being in the crrek just north of Point Dume. There were people using generators and their swimming pools to keep the flames at bay. I was almost turned into toast when a large flame chased me down the creek. It forced me to run and the people watering the brush laughed. I felt like the victim of Puff the Magic Dragon. I remember climbing roofs, jumping fences with T.V. news crews. Making sure that people were out of the homes and would not be scorched.

As it got dark. It was now about eight hours since I first began helping out Sentinel Patrol, and flames from a burning tree were falling on a horse in a small fenced in stable. I had a rope but the horse would not let me near him. I found the owner of the horse, who was protecting his home. I said "help me put the rope on the horse so I can take him to safety at the beach." He said "never mind the horse, help me with my home." But this time I was tired and upset, I said a few words "@#$#@)@#*$)#$ , put the rope on the horse." He did. Then the horse and I made our way down to the beach. We stopped off at a large home with the front doors wide open and we walked in and I said "Is everyone alirght?" The horse must have felt strange, for when was the last time he had been invited into someones living room? We then proceeded to the beach where I lelft the horse in the company of one of the neighbors. There was not a lot of traffic and I had to walk miles before I was able to hitch a ride. After all of this, I was very tired and I remember that it was about 14 hours before I found myself home and back in bed. It had been one of the most physical demanding episodes of my life up until that time. It was definitely the most exciting day of my life. It felt great to be able to help someone save most of their family possessions in one day. The owner of the Sentinel Patrol wrote a letter of accomodation saying that I was truly a "Godsend." Will post that letter when I get back home. There is nothing better in life to say you helped a person/persons in need. One can only imagine how good fire fighters, police officers and other civil service individuals feel when they do this everyday of their lilfe. I have seen many Malibu fires on the news, but there is nothing in my memory that compare to this one except the late 1950s fire of Bel Aire.

In 1979 when Los Angeles County had a natural disacter from a 10 day long battle against a number of fires. More than 7,000 firefighters from 32 different states came together to fight the hellish waves of flames. Hell on earth. At one point 24 different fires were out of control in the state, L.A. Fire Chief Clyde A. Bragdon said "a total of 199 fires actually got started...They brought in every crew available from just about all the lower United States. We had people on the fire lines from Maine, North Carolina and Kentucky...other states contributed to 604 engine companies, 186 fire crews, 75 bulldozers, 18 helicopters, 37 air tankers, 62 other kinds of aircraft and 7,000 men and women" so reported the L.A. Times.