Del Cerro Homeowners Association
Del Cerro Park - Nike Site
Beginning in 1955, the Federal government operated an Army radar fire control center on the Palos Verdes Peninsula to search for incoming enemy missiles during the Cold War. Radar domes were located at the top of the hill at the southern end of Crenshaw Blvd. and silos containing Nike missiles were located near the southern end of Hawthorne Blvd. Both sites were shut down by 1974. The City of Rancho Palos Verdes, which had just been incorporated in 1973, acquired the two locations from the federal government in 1976 free of charge.
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Nike Radar Site circa 1973. Photos courtesy of Rick and Ed Sharpe
The upper site at the end of Crenshaw was obtained with the commitment that the land would remain open to the public for recreation in perpetuity and was dedicated as a 4-acre neighborhood park named Del Cerro Park in 1983.
The lower property, a 75-acre parcel of land on Hawthorne Blvd., is now the location of the RPV civic center, Alta Vicente Reserve (preserved as passive open space in perpetuity), and an area dedicated to active recreation area.
Del Cerro Park Today - 2022
A History of Wildfires
Virtually all of the City of Rancho Palos Verdes has been designated a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone by the County of Los Angeles.
There have been 3 major wildfires in the open space adjacent to Del Cerro in recent memory:
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The Crenshaw Fire on June 22, 1973,
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The San Clemente Fire on July 13, 2005, and
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The Palos Verdes/Portuguese Bend Fire on August 27-28, 2009.
All of the fires required Del Cerro residents to evacuate their homes. The wildfires are reminders that residents need to protect their homes by following appropriate brush clearance procedures, clearing flammable vegetation from near their homes, and creating defensible space around their homes by using fire-resistant materials and landscaping.
The 1973 Crenshaw Fire occurred on June 22, 1973, shortly before the City of Rancho Palos Verdes was incorporated, and consumed 929 acres, destroyed 10 homes in Rolling Hills and damaged landscaping and accessory buildings in Del Cerro.
The 2005 San Clemente Fire was started by sparks from an SCE power pole that broke and fell to the ground in the Alta Mira Canyon shortly after 4 pm on July 13th, causing imminent danger to 300 homes. The fire threatened homes in Island View, SeaBreeze (Ocean Terrace Dr.) and along Park Place next to Del Cerro Park - with 30- to 40-ft. high flames consuming 179 acres of canyon brush as well as fencing and landscaping at the boundary of many of the properties abutting the canyon. No structures were lost. One firefighter suffered minor injuries.
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Images courtesy of the City of Rancho Palos Verdes
Approximately 40 engine companies and five helicopters from throughout LA County responded to the scene, including County units from as far away as San Gabriel and mutual aid from LA City, multiple South Bay cities, and Long Beach - 439 firefighters from the various jurisdictions working together to extinguish the fire. In addition, 55 LA County deputies from the Lomita, Lennox, Compton, Carson, Century, Marina Del Rey, and West Hollywood stations responded to the scene, as well as the Transit Services Bureau and Community Colleges Bureau. Two additional police from Palos Verdes Estates supported the effort. The deputies assisted with evacuating affected residents and maintained security through the evening in the empty neighborhoods. The LA County Animal Care and Control activated the Equine Response Team to assist in evacuating horses from the threatened properties.
RPV City Hall and St. John Fisher Church were opened as evacuation centers, with the American Red Cross providing aid to displaced residents.
In a report to the RPV City Council following the fire, the LA County Assistant Fire Chief attributed the firefighters’ ability to contain the fire in large part to residents’ diligence in maintaining brush clearance and utilizing non-combustible roofing materials which provided defensible space for them to operate with safety. However, the City Council attributed the successful outcome to the heroic efforts of the firefighters.
Del Cerro residents learned a valuable lesson from the evacuation process. We later realized that 6 residents were unable to evacuate when deputies gave the instructions to do so – and were left in their homes. Some were unable to get out by themselves without caregivers available. Others did not understand the instructions. Del Cerro community is a diverse community with many residents whose primary language is not English and who did not understand the evacuation instructions that deputies announced via a loudspeaker from their vehicles.
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As a community, we committed not to let that happen again. We quickly set up a buddy system to assure that these individuals would have help evacuating. We’ve continued the buddy system up to the present. We also initiated fire and earthquake emergency preparedness and response planning within the Del Cerro community shortly after the 2005 wildfire. In addition, we encourage our residents to take CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) training as well as instruction in ham radio operation whenever they are offered.
The 2009 Palos Verdes/Portuguese Bend Fire was first reported at 8 pm on August 27th and was caused by an electrical or mechanical malfunction of electrical wiring or a connector in the Portuguese Bend community. Evacuation orders were given to almost 500 homes in Rolling Hills, Portuguese Bend and the Del Cerro area. The Palos Verdes Fire was one of 11 wildfires being fought throughout California at the time, including the Station Fire (which alone consumed over 160,000 acres in the Angeles National Forest during August and September of that year), straining firefighting resources almost to the limit.
Over 500 firefighters from 87 engine companies were needed to extinguish the Palos Verdes/Portuguese Bend fire, which burned 230 acres. In addition to LA County firefighters from 3 battalions (#14 which serves the peninsula, battalion #7 and battalion #18) as far north as Inglewood, mutual aid responders from 14 different jurisdictions fought the fires alongside the County personnel – including the City of Los Angeles, Torrance, Long Beach, La Habra Heights, Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Vernon, Downey, Santa Fe Springs, Compton, Culver City, Santa Monica, and Beverly Hills. Firefighting efforts continued throughout the night and until midday on August 28th.
View from Oceanaire Drive of the fire and its aftermath.
View of Eagles Nest before and after the fire. Images courtesy of Dwight Yoder, resident of Island View.
2009 Palos Verdes Fire Area Map from the LA County Fire Dept.
Four helicopters were used to extinguish the fire from the air. Each had to travel to Malibu to refuel because of a lack of jet fuel storage in the local area.
The LA County Sheriff’s Lomita Station deputies, with support from the Carson, Century, Lennox and Marina del Rey stations, led evacuation efforts in the affected neighborhoods - announcing the evacuation and assisting neighbors who needed help in the process. Approximately 460 residences in Rolling Hills were successfully notified to evacuate using the newly installed LA County Reverse 911 system. In addition, the Sheriff’s Dept. used loudspeakers and sirens to alert residents and went door-to-door notifying residents. Following evacuation, the deputies
protected residents’ property while the neighborhoods were empty.
St. John Fisher Church immediately opened its entire facility to be used as the unified incident command post. A secondary post was established in the backyard of an upper Oceanaire home to enable firefighters to anticipate and track the movement of the fire in the preserve open space adjacent to Del Cerro and Rolling Hills.
The Sheriff’s Department’s volunteer Disaster Communications Service (DCS) and the Peninsula Volunteer Alert Network (PVAN) provided emergency communications between the emergency communications center at City Hall, the command post, and the fire areas.
Lomita Station Volunteers on Patrol provided traffic and crowd control and brought food and water to emergency personnel.
Gail Lorenzen, RPV Neighborhood Watch Volunteer Coordinator, contacted the RPV neighborhoods that were in danger to alert them of the fire and to recommend that they begin preparing to evacuate. Throughout the evening, she relayed information about the status of the fire and the direction it was heading to the Del Cerro and Portuguese Bend Neighborhood Watch leadership for communication to residents as they prepared for evacuation.
LA County Animal Care and Control again activated the Equine Response Team to help evacuate horses from the area to Ernie J. Howlett Park on Hawthorne Blvd.
The PVPUSD leadership opened Peninsula High for use as a shelter for evacuated residents. The American Red Cross staffed the shelter, providing food, water, and sleeping arrangements for residents who needed a place to spend the night.
In addition, Terranea Resort, which had opened just 2 months earlier, offered rooms to displaced residents free of charge – even welcoming their pets and finding food for them. Many other local businesses supported the firefighting effort by providing food, water and supplies to firefighters and command post personnel throughout the night – including Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of So. California, Ralphs Grocery (#720), Noah’s Bagels, Home Depot, Starbuck's, the Olive Garden and the Daily Breeze.
Six Rolling Hills homes were significantly damaged, and 2 outbuildings were destroyed in Rolling Hills. Other property and landscaping in Rolling Hills and Del Cerro were also damaged. However, hundreds of homes were saved from destruction.
Residents Thank First Responders
Following the 2005 and 2009 wildfires, HOAs from the affected neighborhoods hosted pancake breakfasts in Del Cerro Park to honor and thank the firefighters and deputies for protecting residents’ lives and property.
HOA funds, supplemented by generous donations from individual residents and local businesses, were used to pay for the events. Grateful residents prepared and served pancakes, eggs, sausage, fruit and pastries to over 300 County and mutual aid firefighters, deputies, and the many volunteers and local businesses who supported the firefighting effort.
Elected local, state, and Congressional officials joined the occasions to express their gratitude for the heroic efforts of the first responders.
The PVP Land Conservancy set up an educational exhibit of the preserve at the events to display photos of the impact of the fire and describe restoration activities.
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The generous donations raised from residents and local businesses more than covered event expenses. In 2005, residual funds of over $1,900 were donated to LA County Fire Department Battalion #14, which includes the Peninsula fire stations. The battalion chief indicated that the donation would be used for equipment and supplies.
In 2009, remaining funds of over $4,600 were donated to a County Firefighters fund to assist the families of the two firefighters who had recently lost their lives in the Station Fire.
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Immediately after the breakfasts, leftover food was taken to Beacon House, a men’s recovery center in San Pedro.
The wildfires and pancake breakfasts have had significant lasting effects on the Del Cerro community. Many residents developed a renewed sense of the importance of strengthening relationships among residents and of working together as a community on common goals, strengthening our relationships with our local first responders, and working with other Del Cerro area HOAs on issues of common interest.