[4] Until 2018, it was possibly the single largest wildfire in the recorded history of California,[1][2] with at least 300,000 acres (1,200 km2) of land burned.
"[non-primary source needed] Conditions leading up to the 1889 fire included a much longer and more severe annual drought than usual, with rains largely ceasing in March and less than 0.4 inches (1 cm) of precipitation being recorded for the 5½ months prior (records from the National Archives).
This was coupled with multiple katabatic wind events (known as “northers” or Santa Anas) that month, one of which occurred about 10 days prior and likely added to the dryness of fuels.
- A special to the Tribune from Santa Ana says the mountains for about twenty miles [32 km] east of that city were on fire last night.
The fire originated in Santiago cañon, in a sheepherder’s camp, and as the wind was blowing a perfect gale from off the desert the mountains were soon red with the angry flames.
About 50,000 sacks of barley, threshed and unthreshed, on the San Joaquin ranch, invites the flames from the surrounding hilltops.
For two days there were over thirty miles [48 km] of burning brush on the westside of Santa Rosa Range, and thousands of sheep are supposed to have lost their lives in the conflagration.
A bridge on the line of the California Southern railway, below Temecula, was burned as the result of forest fires.
Mr. Warren Wilson, who arrived from San Diego yesterday, says it is a positive fact that two or three thousand sheep were burned near Santa Ana, while great quantities of grain in the bag, fencing, hay, etc., have been destroyed.