1928 Dambreak, Santa Clarita, Francisquito Canyon Dam collapsed, the ensuing flood wave claimed at least the lives of 400 people

1933 Brush Fire, Los Angeles, Griffith Park:, 29 auxiliary fire-fighter died

1933 March 10th. Earthquake, Los Angeles/Long Beach: 117 people died

1947 February 20 Explosion, South of Downtown, Pico Blvd./Stanford Ave.: a blast at the O'Connor Electroplating Company destroyed/damaged more than 55 structures in a 300-foot radius, 150 people were injured and 15 persons perished. The incident resulted in the city's first ordinance stipulating regulations for the storage, transportation, production, processing, and use of hazardous chemicals and led to one of the first Hazmat Dictionary's in the U.S.

1947 June 22 Ship Explosion, Wilmington, Mormon Island: The SS Markey, loaded with more than three million gallons of butane and other petroleum product exploded

1956 January 22 Train Crash, South of Downtown, Washington Blvd./Santa Fe Ave.: A two-car passenger train derailed in a curve and flipped over; 30 people died, and 150 were injured

1957 October 31 Airplane Crash, Los Angeles International Airport: A United DC-7 with 16 people aboard with defective landing gear made an announced belly landing on a 75 foot-wide and 1600 foot long foam blanket on runway 25 L. No casualties. At the very same time another commercial airliner lost an engine on take-off and had to make an emergency landing on adjacent runway 25R L.

1961 November 6th. Brush Fire, Los Angeles, Santa Monica Mountains: exclusive areas of Bel-Air, Brentwood and Malibu, nearly 500 homes and mansions were destroyed

1962 December 14 Airplane Crash, Laurel Canyon: A Lockheed Super Constellation crashed into a residential area and came to its final rest short of a 100-unit apartment building. Impact and fire damaged 29 other buildings; all 5 people aboard and at least 3 persons on the ground died.

1963 December 14 Dambreak, Baldwin Hills Reservoir: after the collapse of the dam a wave of water and mud destroyed/damaged 123 homes and 670 apartment units. Due to a previous evacuation of thousands of residents, only 8 people perished.

1965, August 11-17, Riots: riots started in Watts, a predominantly black neighborhood, at 103rd street; hundreds of building burned down, 34 people died, 1,032 were injured (including at least 32 firefighters), property damage caused by arson fires and looting amounted to $35 million.

1968 June 5th. Assassination, Los Angeles: Senator Robert F. Kennedy

1969 January 13 Airplane Crash, Los Angeles International Airport/Santa Monica Bay: a Scandinavian Air System (SAS) DC-8 plunged into the Ocean during landing attempt; 15 people died, 30 survived

1969 January 18 Airplane Crash, Los Angeles International Airport/Santa Monica Bay: a United Airlines Boeing 727 crashed into the Ocean Bay shortly after takeoff due to a loss of electrical power and pilot disorientation; all 28 people aboard died

1974 August 6 Bombing, Los Angeles International Airport: Bomb exploded near the PanAm ticketing area at Terminal 2; at least 17 people were injured and 2 persons died.

1976 February 8 Airplane Crash, Van Nuys: A chartered DC-6 crash-landed on a golf course near Van Nuys Airport; while using a rotary saw to free trapped occupants leaking fuel ignited and injured 10 firefighters. Three flight crew members died on impact, while the three members of the cabin crew escaped with only minor injuries.

1978 March 1st. Airplane crash, Los Angeles Airport, Continental passenger DC-10 bound to Honolulu, during liftoff tires blew apart, plane overshot runway, and was immediately engulfed in flames, due to the quick response of airport fire service only 3 people died, 195 survived

1982 September 4th. Building fire, Los Angeles, 821 West Sunset Boulevard: Dorothy Mae apartment fire, 24 people died

1986 August 31st. Airplane crash, Los Angeles/Cerritos; mid air collision between Aeromexico DC-9 approaching LAX and a Piper PA-28, 82 people died

1991 February 1st. Airplane Crash, Los Angeles International Airport: USAir Boeing 737 collided during landing with an AirWest Metroliner that happened to be on the same runway; 36 people died, 67 survived.

1992 April 29 - May 2 Riots: civil disturbance began a few hours after the acquittal of four police officers in the Rodney King trial at the intersection of Normandie and Florence in South Los Angeles; In the four days of riots that followed 51 people were killed, 2,383 persons were injured needing hospital treatment, over 1,000 buildings became burned and hundreds more damaged over a 105 square mile area. Eventually over 22,000 law enforcement, California National Guard, and federal military personnel were called in to restore order.

1994 January 17th. 4:30 a.m. Earthquake, Los Angeles/Northridge: magnitude 6.6, 61 people killed and over 8,000 injured, estimated damage $13-20 billion

1999 August 10th. Shooting, Los Angeles/North Valley Jewish Community Center/Granada Hills; at 10:40 a.m., a self-proclaimed white supremacist entered the Jewish Community Day Care Center. About 70 children, ages 5-12, and some staff members were in the building at the time. The offender immediately opened fire in the front hallway with a machine gun. He shot about 70 rounds and wounded five people.

1999 November 18th, Train crash, Los Angeles/Fullerton: Metrolink commuter train carrying 65 passengers collided with a Burlington Northern Santa Fe freight train; 15 people suffered mostly minor injuries; a ignited fire was quickly extinguished by the local fire department.

2000, January 31st. Airplane crash, Los Angeles/Ventura County: Alaska Airlines MD-83, flight 261, en-route from Mexico to San Francisco plunged into the pacific ocean 10 miles offshore, all 88 people aboard died

2000 March 5th. Airplane Crash, Los Angeles/Burbank-Airport:: Southwest Boeing 737 skidded after landing off the 6,000-foot runway and onto the street Hollywood Way. The jet hit a car and came to a stop a few yards before a fuel station. Of the 142 people aboard only four suffered minor injuries.