Los Angeles herald., 1909-09-18
TELLS OF FLAMES IN
COLDBROOK CANYON
ACTOR PRESENT WHEN FIRE
WAS STARTED
Percy Bronson Admits He Accom-
panied Thomas Brothers Wher
They Lighted Smuege Which
Caused Confagration

Percy Bronson, who has rejoined
Kolb and Dill to play his old part in
THE Politicians" at the Majestic the
ater next week, arrived in Los Angeles
yesterday morning, bringing with him
the first authentic account of the for
est fire which now is sweeping Cold
brook canyon. Mr.. Bronson was at
Coldbrook camp when the fire started,
was impressed into the government
service, sworn in as a fire warden and
helped to fight the flames. His ac-
count of the disaster differs in details
from those previously published,
though he admits he was with the
Thomas brothers when they set the
fire that hours later caused the
trouble.
Bronson, with the Thomas boys, was
passing his vacation at Coldbrook
camp run by man named Dawson.
Wednesday morning his fellow camp
ers told him they had located con-
siderable swarm of bees in an old tree
and proposed to smudge the bees out
so they could get the honey. They
asked Bronson to go with them. He
demurred at first, but finally went for
the purpose of taking pictures of the
operation.
Takes Pictures of Smudge
The tree was high up on the hillside
and difficult of access, but they
reached it at last and the boys
started their smudge. Bronson took
few pictures and then LEFT. In the
afternoon he again met the boys and
asked them If they had put out the
fire. They said they had.
In the evening, however, as he was
walking up the canyon, Bronson saw
a light on the hillside. He climbed
up to investigate and found the tree
of the trunk being incandescent. He
was unable to put it out with sticks,
and so hurried to the camp, where he
aroused the Thomas boys and Mr..
Dawson. The four of them organized
a bucket brigade and with much diff
Guilty finally got water to the fire
They worked long and hard, and
finally, the fire as they thought being
out, returned to camp.
Bronson expected to leave for Los
Angeles early the next morning to
begin rehearsals with Kolb and Dill
and to that fact the four men prob
ably owe their lives. An alarm clock
was set to go off at o'clock in the
morning 1t did so. awakening Mr.
Dawson, who, as soon as he looked
about him, saw that the whole hillside
in the rear of the camp was ablaze.
Start Back Fire
He aroused the others and they
started back-fring just in time TO
protect the camp, the fire finally al
most encrcling them. Then Brons IN
saddled his horse and rode at full
speed to Camp Rincon, where he no
titled the rangers. There he met Chief
Fire Warden Briggs, who mace him
a deputy fire marshal and sec him to
rounding up men to help fight the
flames.
Bronson was armed with authority
to compel every able-bodied man he
met to lend assistance. Twice he had
trouble but in each case brought his
man through to Coldbrook, where he
was put to work with the others.
Four times that morning Bronson
made the ride from Coldbrook to Rim
con and back again, covering in all a
distance of thirty-two miles. Then, in
view of his good services, he was per-
mitted to leave, riding to Azusa,
whence he came to Los Angeles by
train. The fire was still raging at the
time of his departure, and he OILY
left because it was imperative for him
to be in Los Angeles this morning for
rehearsal