Bay Area Fire Departments Strained With Massive Blazes Statewide

Photo of Jerusalem Fire: Al Francis of NapaSonomaPhotos.com

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With record-setting high temperatures and severe drought conditions this summer, fires raging across the state are putting a strain on Bay Area fire districts that are sending personnel to help battle the blazes in other areas. As of Friday morning, some 12,000 firefighters were battling 17 wildfires across California, the largest of which, the River Complex fire in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, is over 50,000 acres, Cal Fire spokeswoman Lynne Tolmachoff said.

Roughly half the firefighters, or around 6,000, hail from districts across the state and are called in to battle the blazes as part of the state’s mutual aid plan, she said. Some fire crews are also traveling from outside the state as well, with crews coming in from Arizona, New Mexico and Hawaii, Tolmachoff said.

The U.S. Forest Service has even called in firefighters from Australia and New Zealand to help battle fires throughout the Pacific Northwest, according to Emergency Management Victoria. California is already seeing twice as many fires this year and the season hasn’t even reached its peak, which typically occurs in September and October, Tolmachoff said.

“This fire season has definitely lived up to everyone’s predictions so far,” said Santa Clara County Fire Department Deputy Chief of Operations Joe Parker. Locally, fire officials from the Bay Area say their departments are beginning to feel the impact of increased fire activity across the state.

“It’s certainly putting a strain on the overall mutual aid system because of the number of firefighters out on the line,” Alameda County Fire Chief David Rocha said. When the Tesla fire broke out earlier this week near Livermore, Rocha said the department put out a request for assistance from other fire agencies, but those agencies weren’t able to immediately send the help they needed.

“We were pretty thin on resources when the fire started,” Rocha said, who said that can make a big difference in firefighters’ ability to battle the blaze. As of Friday morning, the Tesla fire was roughly 70 percent contained at 2,500 acres. Firefighters from the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District have already been called out for mutual aid 18 times since the end of July, when fire activity picked up statewide, said Fire Marshal Robert Marshall.

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A total of 26 firefighters, from the district’s roughly 250, have gone out to fight fires across the state, Marshall said. Although it varies from day to day, those numbers are consistent with those seen by the Alameda and Santa Clara county fire departments, according to data each agency provided.

The San Francisco Fire Department has sent 43 firefighters since July 22 on statewide mutual aid requests, according to spokeswoman Mindy Talmadge. Marshall said he’s noticed that the personnel they send to fires across the state are gone for longer periods of time this year. Talmadge said firefighters are gone for approximately 10 days on average.

“These guys have families and kids and all of that,” Marshall said. In the more remote areas of the state, Marshall said cell phone service is often not available, so just keeping in contact with family can be hard. “Just being out in these fires can be exhausting as well,” Marshall said.

When firefighters can’t work their normal shifts, either because they are battling blazes elsewhere in the state or are recovering from fighting fires, others have to take their place and they get fewer days off between shifts, fire officials said. If there’s any silver lining, Parker said it’s that the increased activity gives firefighters more experience battling wildfires that they can then bring back home. If current weather patterns hold, Parker said they’ll get a lot more experience in the coming months.

“It’s going to keep up until the weather changes significantly. A smattering of rain is not going to do the trick,” he said. “The fuels are drought-stressed and we are aware of the bigger potential not only of an easier start to fires but also the energy and heat released from the fires will be greater.”

By Bay City News