So far this year mutual aid responses - service for which the city is reimbursed - have been average, although Araiza noted the Station Fire has come “a little later” in the traditional fire season. If Santa Ana winds kick up, he added, it would fan the fire and bring “more trouble... and it would be much, much worse.”As of Wednesday, firefighters had created a perimeter around 22 percent of the blaze, largely by brush removal and setting controlled burns. Bulldozers still had 95 miles of fire line to build near the San Gabriel Wilderness area, located mostly on the blaze’s eastern front.Being watched closely is the historic observatory on Mount Wilson, which also holds a major portion of the systems antenna transmitting television and radio broadcasting. The Station Fire has raged from Acton to Altadena to Sunland to Glendale.October with its Santa Ana winds is traditionally the worst month of the wildfire season, but the region hit by fire is in the midst of a three-year drought, low humidity and brush that in some areas hasn’t burned for generations. Visible for miles is the smoke that billowed thousands of feet in the air forming what firefighters call an “ice cap.”Captain Tedmund Hall, 47, of San Bernardino, and firefighter Specialist Arnaldo Quinones, 35, of Palmdale, were killed Sunday, August 20 when their vehicle plummeted off a mountain road and down a cliff.
SPFD Engine 1 company offering mutual aid for raging Station Fire
September 04, 2009
Santa Paula News
Santa Paula Engine 1 company is among an army of firefighters that are finally starting to get a handle on the Station Fire, which has burned a wide area of national forest north of Los Angeles.
By Peggy KellySanta Paula TimesSanta Paula Engine 1 company is among an army of firefighters that are finally starting to get a handle on the Station Fire, which has burned a wide area of national forest north of Los Angeles.Officials believe a human cause - accidental or arson has not yet been determined - started the blaze, which as of Wednesday burned nearly 219 square miles or 140,150 acres in the Angeles National Forest. Two Los Angeles area firefighters lost their lives in the fire, which erupted on August 26.The blaze has destroyed more than five dozen homes and forced thousands of people from their homes. At one point as the fire spread it threatened more than 12,000 residences.Santa Paula Fire Chief Rick Araiza said Engine 81 was deployed Saturday, August 29 at about 3 p.m. and the crew, including Captain Jerry Byrum, Engineer Austin Macias and two firefighters, Jake Cowden and Casey Sullivan, were assigned to structure protection. “They’ve been working night shift,” said Araiza, and “resting during the day... we will evaluate the situation at the end of the week, see how the fire is doing,” and perhaps send out another engine unit for relief.Mutual aid has been provided by all Ventura County fire departments, and Araiza said there are daily chief conference calls to gauge the situation in the county in case it experiences its own fire emergency. “We want to ensure strike teams will be available that in case something breaks in Ventura County it can be handled immediately.” With so many fire fighting resources devoted to the Station Fire, Araiza said it would be “tough to get” personnel and equipment for a mutual aid response anywhere else.
