Perched on a hill overlooking Simi Valley and Moorpark, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library offers sweeping views. But that location has long made it vulnerable to wildfires.
On Wednesday, the fast-moving Easy fire had surrounded the library, which was closed to the public. Those in the library were sheltering in place.
Firefighters were at the facility prepared to provide structure protection. The flames were being held back by an aggressive ground and aerial attack on the ridges beyond Simi’s modern residential estates.
Helicopters repeatedly dropped loads of water behind the library in 60-mph winds, turning the flames on the ridge 300 feet below into smoke. Amid wind gusts strong enough to knock a person off balance, two super-scooper planes dipped down behind the library before unleashing such a volume of water it created its own rainbow.
Roads out of Simi Valley were packed with residents pouring south toward Thousand Oaks, their cars and SUVs brimming with boxes packed with treasured objects.
A statue of President Ronald Reagan titled “Along The Trail” stands outside the Reagan Library as the Easy Fire burns in the background in Simi Valley.
(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
The Times is offering fire coverage for free today. Please consider a subscription to support our journalism.
The library, which is designed to withstand earthquakes and wildfires, has been threatened by fire in the past. Officials say they take pains to protect the facility, ensuring that the open space around the building is kept clear. Each year, the library brings in goats to eat vegetation around the buildings.
Opened in 1991, the library is home to the Marine One presidential helicopter, Air Force One presidential aircraft, a piece of the Berlin Wall, a replica of Reagan’s White House Oval Office and a steel beam recovered from the World Trade Center after 9/11.
Two years after the library opened, the Reagan family threw a celebration there for firefighters who battled Southern California’s 1993 firestorms.
“Many years ago, we lost our old ranch in Malibu to fire,” the president’s daughter Maureen Reagan said at the time. “When those winds start to blow, the same could happen to any one of us. We live in a place with unique terrain that’s continually touched by fire, and thank God we have unique and special men and women that are trained to stop those fires when they threaten people.”
The Easy fire, which broke out shortly after 6 a.m., has burned 1,300 acres and is threatening 6,500 homes.
President Ronald Reagan’s Air Force One sits on display at the Reagan Library as an L.A. County Fire helicopter prepares to make a water drop on the Easy Fire in Simi Valley.
(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
Why I Stopped my Poe.com Subscription After 8 Months (serious post) and went back to the original ChatGPT-4 : ChatGPTPro