PRIORITIZING LIFE, PROPERTY
As three large, destructive wildfires simultaneously burned at their most fierce levels in Southern California this month, those responsible for distributing the finite amounts of fire personnel and firefighting equipment made their choices based on what they considered the most immediate threats to lives and property.
Other considerations for deciding whether to send a critical resource to the Airport fire in Orange and Riverside counties, the Bridge fire in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties and the Line fire in San Bernardino County included the proximity to each blaze and whether that equipment — particularly aircraft — was a good fit for a specific fire.
Officials said California’s robust mutual aid system provided what they considered sufficient fire engines, airplanes, helicopters, firefighters and supervisors, yet the sheer number required meant that some arrived from hundreds of miles away hours after they were ordered.
“I’ve never heard of a fire that has gone without; it might just take time to arrive,” said Cal Fire Capt. John Clingingsmith Jr., a spokesman on the Line fire.
It’s a system that evolved from agreements among friendly fire chiefs in the 1970s to one where today complex decisions are made out of sprawling operations centers. And one where those relationships are still important.
Even so, more than 260 structures have been destroyed or damaged and flames have consumed more than 117,000 acres.
Almost 9,000 firefighters, along with some 800 fire engines and dozens of aircraft have fought the blazes
“In a perfect world, you can have a million firefighters here, but sometimes Mother Nature is too powerful,” said Kenichi Haskett, a Los Angeles County Fire Department section chief and spokesman on the Bridge fire.
There, high winds changed direction and pushed the flames burning above Claremont away from Mount Baldy and toward Wrightwood. Embers that can fly for miles ahead of the main fire landed in dry, heavy brush and into the attics of homes.
“You get a couple of embers in the attic space and your house is ignited, unfortunately,” Haskett said.
Members of the California Conservation Corps Los Pinos Center fire crew march up Ortega Highway to get to their transport vehicle after battling the Airport fire and clearing brush in the Santa Ana Mountains above Lake Elsinore on Sept. 12, 2024. Crews have been spread out among three large brush fires in Southern California. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
PRIORITIZING LIFE, PROPERTY
The Line fire ignited on Sept. 5 in Highland, followed by the Bridge fire on Sept. 8 in San Gabriel Canyon and the Airport fire on Sept. 9 in Trabuco Canyon. No deaths have been reported thanks to evacuations and aggressive firefighting.
The fires share some of the same characteristics, such as lives and property in imminent peril in areas with steep terrain.
Cal Fire and five federal agencies including the U.S. Forest Service staff the Southern Region Operations Center at March Air Reserve Base. That’s where incident commanders submitted their requests for resources and officials there filled the needs as best they could.
Fire officials did …read more
Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
