San Diego County Fire Entrapment Fatalities 1934

Three firefighters with the State Emergency Relief Administration's (SERA) camp near Julian, California, were entrapped and perished on a fire possibly in the area of Descanso. These three men, Clarence Harris, John Leapley, and Ambrose Williams, were part of a 25-person crew sent to the fire from their camp. The crew became entrapped in a gulch and hiked downhill along a highway to escape, while Harris, Leapley, and Williams either could not or chose not to follow. Instead, they turned uphill and were caught by the flames racing up the slope.

The SERA was a work relief program during the Great Depression, similar to the federal government's Civilian Conservation Corps.