Wildfire in California, July 20 to 23, 2004

Name: Wildfire in California, July 20 to 23, 2004
Start: 2004-07-20T13:26
End: 2004-07-23T18:00
Location: California

July 20 to 23, 2004 · NWS LOX · 2 events in 2 counties and zones

The Crown Fire, which was located southeast of the city of Acton, burned 11,966 acres of land in the Angeles National Forest. The cause of the Crown Fire was still to be determined.

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 2

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS LOX wrote it up.

The Crown Fire, which was located southeast of the city of Acton, burned 11,966 acres of land in the Angeles National Forest. The cause of the Crown Fire was still to be determined. Fire officials estimated the total cost to fight both the Crown Fire and the Foothill Fire to be over 10 million dollars.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Los Angeles, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 20, 1:30 AM PST, 11 hours 56 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 20, 1:30 AM PST, 11 hours 56 minutes before

AFDLOX
SOUTHWEST CALIFORNIA AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOS ANGELES/OXNARD CA
230 AM PDT TUE JUL 20 2004

.SHORT TERM...
MARINE LAYER REMAINS SOMEWHAT VEXING. IT IS ACTUALLY LESS EXTENSIVE
THAN YDY DESPITE ONSHORE TRENDS. HAVE SCALED BACK ON THE CLOUDS TODAY.
TEMPS SEEMED OK. ONSHORE FLOW INCREASES AND MARINE LAYER SHOULD BECOME
MORE WIDESPREASD ALONG THE COASTAL AREAS ALTHOUGH 588+ HGTS SHOULD
KEEP MARINE LAYER LOWER THAN 1000 FEET AND THUS OUT OF THE VLYS. SO
OVERALL VERY LITTLE CHANGE EXPECTED ESPECAILLY INLAND.

.LONG TERM...
THE UPPER HIGH REMAINS OVER AZ FOR THE PERIOD. 850MB ANALYSIS SUGGESTS
THAT SOME CONVECTION IS POSSIBLE SUNDAY/MONDAY BUT THE PATTERN LOOKS
RATHER ATYPICAL SO AM NOT GOING TO HANG MY HAT ON IT YET. UPER HIGH
THEN PULLS WESTWARD OVER CA WHICH SHOULD WARM THINGS BUT WILL CUT OFF
CONVECTION.

&&

.LOX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY (SEE LAXCWFLOX).

&&

RORKE

Event by event

2 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.

Wildfire, N Los Angeles T X N

When: July 20, 1:26 PM PST to July 23, 6:00 PM PST
Where: N Los Angeles T X N forecast zone
Reported by: FIRE DEPT/RESCUE SQUAD

Wildfire, X N Los Angeles

When: July 20, 1:26 PM PST to July 23, 6:00 PM PST
Where: X N Los Angeles forecast zone
Reported by: FIRE DEPT/RESCUE SQUAD

What these are

Wildfire: A fire burning in wildland vegetation, with its acreage and damage where known.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in California in 2004 Every state in 2004 This day in weather history Warnings in California, July 2004

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5411435, 5411436.