The Loop fire was one of the costly fires in human life
in California history.
On November 1, 1966, the El Cariso Hotshots, a U.S. Forest
Service Interregional Wild-land Firefighting Crew, was
trapped by flames as they worked on a steep hillside in
Pacoima Canyon on the Angeles National Forest. Ten members
of the crew perished on the Loop Fire that day. Another two
members succumbed from burn injuries in the following days.
Most of the nineteen members who survived were very
critically burned and remained hospitalized for some time.
Many lessons were learned with this fire. Better training
on how fires move and behave, and better equipment came out
of this disaster.
Source: U.S. Forest Service