Sept. 25, 1964 | California Wildfires

Sept. 25, 1964 - The big Santa Barbara brush fire moved today into an area of several hundred mountain cabins in Ventura County, Calif.
It was unknown how many of the cabins were occupied, as the area has few telephone lines. The sector is 10 air miles west of Ojai, an art center and tourist attraction of about 7,000 population. There was no official report of a threat to Ojai.
The fire, now in its fourth day, has charred more than 80,000 acres and destroyed at least 78 homes, some of them mansions. Governor Edmund G. Brown and the Federal Small Business Administration have declared Santa Barbara County a disaster area, facilitating repair loans.
The U.S. Forest Service brought in 300 more firefighters today, making the total 2,100 men battling the blaze. This brought the fire’s casualty total to 41 injured, besides one firefighter, John L. Patterson, 45 years old, burned to death yesterday. Patterson tried to run through the flames when trapped by a flare-up northeast of Montecito. Three other men huddled against an embankment and survived.

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