Because of the disorganized nature of the deployment and the often inaccurate recordkeeping of the work project , it took weeks to establish the exact death toll and identify the bodies . A month after the fire , the District Attorney 's office put the official death toll at 29 , with 27 dead at the scene and two dead in hospitals afterwards . The Griffith Park fire remained the single-deadliest fire in California history for 85 years until being surpassed by the Camp Fire in 2018 , which killed at least 83 people . The cause of the fire was never fully determined
Camp Fire
Camp Fire (2018)
1933 Griffith Park Fire