La Tuna Canyon Fire Entrapment Fatality 1955

The following summary is from the attached Posthumous Medal of Valor Citation. 

On November 6, 1955 at 1400, Los Angeles Fire Department Auto Fireman James L. Catlow with E39 responded with the company to Underhill and Verdugo Fire Road to suppress the developing La Tuna Canyon Fire. Hoselays were installed, and conditions were favorable to suppress the fire. Suddenly a terrain-driven wind hit the fire and caused it to increase in speed and intensity. The firefighters on the road could not escape. Catlow ran to the engine's pump controls to ensure water supply to the hoses was kept up, as that was the only protection the other firefighters had. He stayed at the pump through multiple pulses of fire that enveloped him. On November 12, he succumbed to the 3rd degree burns he suffered on November 6. 

A fire corresponding to the date and location of the La Tuna Canyon Fire in the California Fire History Database shows a final fire size of 4200 acres.