Utah Firefighters aid in CA fires
Multiple high-intensity, fast burning fires paired up with hot, dry Santa Ana winds, create the most devastating wild land fire disaster in California history, according to California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s Web site.
On Oct. 21, 21 wildfires broke out across Southern California, damaging thousands of homes and causing widespread evacuations.
The infernos engulfed parts of Malibu and areas of Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties, burning more than 516,400 acres and killing seven. More than 2,000 homes were destroyed among the 12 wildfires, injuring 71 firefighters and 27 civilians and forcing at least 1,400 people into 13 different evacuation shelters scattered across the state, a CDF spokesperson said.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered the largest evacuation in state history within the first 48 hours of ignition and declared a state of emergency after approximately 300,000 people were told to leave San Diego County, where hundreds of homes had already been destroyed or threatened.
At the peak of the fire siege, more than 15,000 firefighters from the western states battled to save lives and property from more than a dozen major fires.
Several Utah County crews and a task force of engines from Spanish Fork and Cedar City were sent to aid California firefighters just 96 hours after the fires were reported.
Tony Trujillo, engine foreman of the Uinta National Forest on the Spanish Fork Ranger District, was sent to Southern California as part of a task force of engines to the Poomacha Fire on the LaJolla Indian Reservation in San Diego County where 50,00 acres were burned and 160 homes were lost.
“It was like walking up to a nuclear winter. It was Armageddon. It looked like the end of the world,” Trujillo said. “People’s homes and all their possessions were charred, completely gone. It was silencing.”
Trujillo said the task of fighting fire is never an easy thing, but it becomes exceptionally complicated and difficult when homes are built in the middle of a fuel type that is itching to burn.
Patrick Carlson, a member of Utah County firefighters, was dispatched to the Slide Fire at Green Valley Lake in the San Bernardino Mountains, where 428 homes were lost and more than 13,000 acres were burned.
Carlson said he felt grateful for the chance to help out Southern California firefighters.
“You couldn’t help but notice people who had lost absolutely everything,” Carlson said. “Homeowners were still very thankful for our presence and our help. Still, it hurts to see people lose everything they have worked their entire lives for.”
There were thousands of different firefighters from the western states and from different agencies trying to help out, Carlson said. A majority of the homes destroyed in the Slide Fire were lost in the first 72 hours.
According to Carlson, fighting fires is exceptionally different in California than in Utah.
“It’s a completely different fuel type, which burns a little different. The best thing to do on a big fire like the Slide Fire is to talk to local people to gain a better understanding of fire behavior. But, the great thing about wild land firefighting is every firefighter is trained in the basics, with the exact same training,” Carlson said.
“Fires in northern Utah, without a doubt, threaten homes, especially along the Wasatch Front,” Trujillo said. “However, in California, people’s homes and livelihoods are at very vulnerable position in urban interface areas in the middle of a chaparral fuel type.”
California’s plant and shrub composition is considered a very volatile fuel type called chaparral. It is a fuel type that needs to burn, he said.
California has a fire-dependent ecosystem, said Michael Kuhns, professor and extension forestry specialist for USU. California’s plant species have evolved in the presence of fire and possess traits that thrive in regular, consistent fire, Kuhns said.
Kuhns also said the only way to be proactive about Southern California fires is through mechanical means, creating defensible space and utilizing firebreaks.
Curt Peterson of the Wasatch-Cache National Forest on the Logan Ranger District said Southern California is prime for yet another major fire disaster in the next five years due to persistent drought, urban sprawl of communities encroaching into areas of wild land and millions of acres of vegetation still left unburned.
“Preparedness is the key to surviving wild land fires. Following simple proactive steps of creating buffer zones and defensible space saves lives, families and homes from the devastating effects of wild land fires,” Peterson said.
According CDF’s Web site, as of Nov. 1, reported estimated insured losses were expected to exceed $1.5 billion from the 21 fires in Southern California, and all fires have been reported contained. CDF firefighters have started implementing restoration and fire rehab efforts. A majority of northern Utah firefighters and strike teams returned to their homes on Sunday, Nov. 4. Further investigation of suspected arsonists ignition of the Santiago Fire in Orange County is still underway.
-m.l.r@aggiemail.usu.edu