[WIND BLOWING] RAYMOND CHANDLER: THERE WAS A ROUGH DESERT WIND BLOWING INTO LOS ANGELES THAT EVENING.

IT WAS ONE OF THOSE HOT, DRY SANTA ANAS THAT COME DOWN THROUGH THE MOUNTAIN PASSES AND CURL YOUR HAIR, MAKE YOUR NERVES JUMP AND YOUR SKIN ITCH.

ON NIGHTS LIKE THAT, EVERY BOOZE PARTY ENDS UP IN A FIGHT AND WEAK LITTLE HOUSEWIVES FEEL THE EDGE OF A CARVING KNIFE AND STUDY THEIR HUSBANDS' NECKS.

ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN WHEN THE SANTA ANA BLOWS IN FROM THE DESERT.

[WIND BLOWING] MAN: PEOPLE TIRE EASILY, ARGUE MORE.

EVEN THE SUICIDE RATE RISES DURING THE MONTHS OF THE SANTA ANA.

THE DEVIL WIND.

DR.

MARILYN RAPHAEL: PEOPLE HAVE BEEN AFFECTED BY THE WINDS AS LONG AS THERE HAVE BEEN PEOPLE HERE.

MAN: WHEN THE SANTA ANAS BLOW, ALL BETS ARE OFF.

WOMAN: OH, THE SANTA ANAS ARE BLOWING UP MY 'DO.

SECOND WOMAN: I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS ABOUT THE SANTA ANAS, BUT I HAVEN'T BEEN MYSELF ALL DAY.

RAPHAEL: I THINK IF NO ONE WARNED YOU, YOU'D BE A LITTLE SCARED.

IT'S HOT.

IT'S DRY.

IT CAN BE DIFFICULT TO BREATHE.

NONE OF THOSE CONDITIONS ARE COMFORTABLE FOR HUMANS.

I LIKE THEM BECAUSE I LIKE BAD WEATHER.

[LAUGHTER] WOMAN: OH, THE SANTA ANA WINDS ARE JUST THIS, LIKE, HOT AIR.

SECOND WOMAN: THEY'RE WARM.

[SPEAKING SPANISH] MAN: IT WOULD BOTHER ME BECAUSE I HAVE ASTHMA.

WOMAN: I ALSO THINK IT KIND OF MAKES PEOPLE LOOPY.

SECOND WOMAN: I JUST GET REALLY ANNOYED REALLY EASY AND I GET MAD.

SECOND MAN: WHAT DO I THINK ABOUT THE SANTA ANA WINDS BEING NAMED THE DEVIL'S WINDS?

WELL, ANYTHING THAT IS NAMED AFTER MYSELF I MUST LIKE IT AT LEAST A LITTLE BIT, RIGHT?

NARRATOR: WHEN AIR DESCENDS FROM THE GREAT BASIN TO SEA LEVEL, THE INCREASING AMOUNT OF AIR ABOVE IT CREATES PRESSURE.

THIS PRESSURE HEATS THE WINDS AND DECREASES THEIR HUMIDITY AS THEY ARE FUNNELED THROUGH THE MOUNTAIN PASSES, GAINING SPEED AND DESTRUCTIVE POWER.

MAN: THE SANTA ANTA--SANTA ANA WINDS.

NARRATOR: LOCAL LORE OFFERS SEVERAL COMPETING EXPLANATIONS FOR HOW THE WINDS GOT THEIR NAME.

ONE HOLDS THAT THE NAME FINDS ITS ORIGINS IN A NATIVE AMERICAN WORD FOR "WIND" WHICH SPANISH MISSIONARIES, DETECTING AN EVIL PRESENCE IN THE WIND, LIKED FOR ITS SIMILARITY TO SATAN.

BUT SCHOLARS WHO STUDY NATIVE AMERICAN LANGUAGES INSIST THAT THERE WAS NO SUCH WORD.

WHILE CAMPING IN PRESENT-DAY ORANGE COUNTY IN 1769, THE PORTOLA EXPEDITION SUPPOSEDLY ENCOUNTERED A FIERCE WINDSTORM ON SAINT ANNE'S DAY.

YET ANOTHER SUGGESTS MEXICAN DICTATOR ANTONIO LOPEZ DE SANTA ANNA AS THE WIND'S EPONYM.

THE TROUBLE WITH THAT THEORY IS THAT GENERAL SANTA ANNA NEVER ENTERED SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, AND HE SPELLED HIS NAME WITH TWO Ns.

MOST SCHOLARS GENERALLY AGREE THAT THE NAME DERIVES FROM SANTA ANA CANYON, THE PORTAL WHERE THE SANTA ANA RIVER AS WELL AS THE CONGESTED RIVERSIDE 91 FREEWAY LEAVES RIVERSIDE COUNTY AND ENTERS ORANGE COUNTY.

IT WAS NOT UNTIL 1880 THAT THE EARLIEST KNOWN WRITTEN USE OF THE NAME SANTA ANA APPEARED IN AN ARTICLE IN THE LOS ANGELES "EVENING EXPRESS."

NEWS REPORTER: ...WIGGLING INTO THEIR GEAR AND SCRAMBLING TOWARDS THE STATION FOR THE ENGINES.

THE RANCHERS, THE HOMEOWNERS, THE FARMERS COME AWAKE WITH A STARTLE WHEN THEY HEAR THEM SCREAM BY.

170 MEN ARE FIGHTING THE FIRE, AND THE FIRE IS WINNING.

[FIRE CRACKLES] MAN OVER RADIO: GO, GO, GO.

MAN: IF YOU'VE EVER EXPERIENCED A SANTA ANA WIND FIRE, IT DEFINITELY IS SOMETHING THAT YOU NEVER FORGET.

[TIRES SCREECH] [SIREN] YOU GOT HOT ASH.

YOU GOT DIRT.

YOU GOT SMOKE.

YOU GOT ROCKS.

YOU GOT PIECES OF BRUSH THAT ARE BLOWING INTO YOUR EYES, EMBERS THAT ARE PELTING YOUR PROTECTIVE CLOTHING.

THE WINDS ARE JUST THAT STRONG, THE HUMIDITY IS JUST THAT LOW, THE VEGETATION IS JUST THAT DRY.

IT'S CHAOS.

IT'S ABSOLUTE CHAOS.

REPORTER: WINDS WHIPPING IN MULTIPLE DIRECTIONS.

SECOND REPORTER: HUNDREDS OF ACRES BURNING, THEN JUMPING THE FREEWAY.

THIRD REPORTER: THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE HAD TO PACK UP AND GET OUT.

FOURTH REPORTER: THE SANTA ANA WINDS, IT'S SCARY STUFF.

BRIAN FENNESSY: NOTHING INFLUENCES FIRE MORE THAN WIND.

40, 50, 60 MILE AN HOUR SUSTAINED, GUSTS 80, 90 MILES AN HOUR, YOU'RE NOT GONNA STOP THAT FIRE.

RATES OF SPREAD WE'RE SEEING IN A SANTA ANA FIRE ARE JUST UNIMAGINABLE.

IT'S NOT UNCOMMON FOR FIRES TO SPREAD IN THE EARLY STAGES OF FIRE 4 TO 6 SQUARE MILES WITHIN AN HOUR.

THOMAS KENNINGTON: I ACTUALLY THINK THAT THE MOST DANGEROUS PART OF A SANTA ANA-DRIVEN FIRE IS THE CITIZENS.

WOMAN ON PHONE: WE WERE QUITE SURE THAT WE WEREN'T GOING TO BE IN THE FLAMES UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE WHEN IT LEAPED OVER THE HILLSIDE THERE, AND ALL OF THE SUDDEN THE WHOLE HILL WAS JUST A MASS OF FLAMES, AND WE JUST RAN FOR OUR LIVES.

KENNINGTON: SOME PEOPLE THINK THEY'RE GONNA STAY AND SAVE THEIR HOUSES, AND THEN THEY SEE WHAT THEY'RE REALLY UP AGAINST.

AND WHAT THEY'VE REALLY DONE IS STAYED PAST THE POINT OF NO RETURN.

IN A SANTA ANA WIND-DRIVEN FIRE, ABOUT THE ONLY FIRE BREAK THAT WORKS IS THE PACIFIC OCEAN.

MAN: ASK A LOT OF SURFERS AND THEY'LL TELL YOU THAT SOME OF THEIR BEST WAVES THEY'VE EVER HAD WERE ACTUALLY DURING FIRES.

THE SMOKE WAS SO THICK YOU COULD BARELY BREATHE.

IT'S THIS GUILTY PARADOXICAL PLEASURE KNOWING THAT YOUR PERFECT WAVES ARE COMING AT THE EXPENSE OF DESTRUCTION.

THE SANTA ANAS, ALTHOUGH THEY'RE CALLED THE DEVIL WINDS, THEY'RE PRETTY DARN ANGELIC FOR SURFERS.

OH, WHEN THE SANTA ANAS ARE COMING INTO TOWN, EVERYONE GETS ON THE PHONE.

"HEY, DID YOU HEAR THERE'S A SANTA ANA COMING IN?

IT'S GONNA BE GOOD."

WOMAN: YOU CALL IN SICK TO WORK.

SECOND WOMAN: IT'S TIME TO GET DOWN TO THE BEACH, QUICK.

ROSS BUSHNELL: YOUR NORMAL WIND IS THE WEST WIND THAT COMES FROM THE OCEAN.

IT'S A SEA BREEZE.

THE WEST WIND MAKES THE WAVE CRUMBLE, AND IT RUINS THE SHAPE, WHEREAS AN OFFSHORE WIND, A SANTA ANA WIND, THE WAVE'S APPROACHING, AND THEN IT GETS HIT WITH THIS FORCE FROM THE LAND, AND THAT KEEPS THE WAVE UP.

IT CREATES A TUBE OR BARREL.

HEATHER GARCKEN: IT'S KIND OF INDESCRIBABLE.

MICHELLE WATSON: IT'S WHAT ALL SURFERS REALLY HOPE FOR.

BUSHNELL: KIDS DRAW PICTURES OF THEM ON THEIR NOTEBOOKS.

GARCKEN: IT'S JUST--IT'S PRETTY SPECTACULAR.

BUSHNELL: YEAH, TODAY'S CONDITIONS WERE LOUSY.

IF IT WAS THE SAME SORT OF CONDITIONS, BUT WITH A SANTA ANA, THERE'D BE A HUNDRED PEOPLE OUT ON THAT SAME STRETCH OF BEACH.

GARCKEN: DEAR SANTA ANA WINDS, SEND ME SOFT, GUSTY OFFSHORE WINDS, AND HOPEFULLY YOU'LL GIVE ME A BARREL.

WATSON: DEAR SANTA ANA WINDS, AS SOON AS WE'RE OUT OF THE WATER, YOU CAN GO AWAY.

[LAUGHS] JOAN DIDION: THERE'S SOMETHING UNEASY IN THE LOS ANGELES AIR THIS AFTERNOON, SOME UNNATURAL STILLNESS, SOME TENSION.

THE BABY FRETS, THE MAID SULKS.

I REKINDLE A WANING ARGUMENT WITH THE TELEPHONE COMPANY, THEN CUT MY LOSSES AND LIE DOWN, GIVE IT OVER TO WHATEVER IS IN THE AIR.

LOS ANGELES WEATHER IS THE WEATHER OF CATASTROPHE, OF APOCALYPSE.

THE VIOLENCE, THE UNPREDICTABILITY OF THE SANTA ANA, IT AFFECTS THE ENTIRE QUALITY OF LIFE IN LOS ANGELES, ACCENTUATES ITS IMPERMANENCE, ITS UNRELIABILITY.

THE WIND SHOWS US JUST HOW CLOSE TO THE EDGE WE ARE.