Incident Name: 3661-acre “Bryant Canyon Fire” (upper end of Big Tujunga Canyon) on the Angeles National Forest; ten miles northwest of suburban Passadena
Date: 8/5/1947
Personnel: 2 lives lost
Age:
Agency/Organization: US Forest Service, Los Angeles County Fire Department
Position: firefighters
Summary:
Carl Masterson, 41, a US Forest Service employee, Lopez Canyon Station
Edward “Harry” Duffy, 21, a Construction Fire Suppression Operator, Los Angeles County Fire Department (working out of Deer Creek fire camp)
On 8/5/47 Construction Fire Suppression Operator Edward “Harry” Duffy and Carl Masterson, a US Forest Service employee, died during suppression of the 3661-acre “Bryant Canyon Brush Fire”. They were entrapped in a draw and overrun. Others were injured. The fire was the most disasterous in the area in 24 years.
Maps
General Incident Location – They were entrapped and overrun in Bryant Canyon. Lat/Lon is at the mouth of the canyon and it runs south about 1.5 miles or so. Entrapment would have been south of the pin.
{mosmap lat=’34.298666’|lon=’-118.273691’|marker=’0’|text=’mouth of Bryant Canyon’}
Reports, Documentation, Lessons Learned
- US Forest Service Heroes Memorial: Carl Masterson | Harry Duffy
- California Death Index: Carl Joseph Masterson | Edward Jerome Duffy
Wildlandfire.com Links:
Media Articles and Reports
- Parachutists Join Fight against Fire, Reinforcements rushed to California canyonAugust 8, 1947 | Reading Eagle
Big Tujunga Canyon brush and light timber fire raged uncontrolled for its fourth day
By early on the 4th day, the blaze had crept down the canyon to within 1 1/2 miles ofthe community of Tujunga, and the US Ranger M W Durham said the burned-over area now totalled approximately 4,200 acres. An effort was made yesterday to create rain by artificial methods above the burning area where two have died and the list of injured reached some 75. The cloud experiment failed.
Photos, Videos, & Tributes
Contributors to this article: Gerald Meehan, Larry Tucker, LAC, RJM, John Miller, Rene Vanderhooft
Please support the Wildland Firefighter Foundation
There are several photographs taken on this fire in an article commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of helicopters in wild/bush fire fighting (the 1947 Bryant Fire was the first such use):
Dudley, M. & Greenhoe, G.S., 1984 ‘Fifty Years of Helicopter Firefighting’ [i]Fire Management Notes[/i], vol.58(4), pp.6-7 ([url=”http://www.fs.fed.us/fire/fmt/fmt_pdfs/fmn58-4.pdf”]link[/url])
The article of that edition of Fire Management Notes also has another picture of a Bell 47B coming in to land.