700 California Wildfires: Why Don’t We Have Enough Firefighing Resources?
Almost three years ago, Americans watched in horror as this country failed to provide adequate disaster relief resources during Hurricane Katrina. Currently, the scenario is being repeated in California, where an estimated 600 to 900 lightning sparked wildfires are burning. Many of these fires began last Friday afternoon (6/20/08); many of these fires remain unmanned. As someone personally surrounded by over 80 fires in a 10 mile radius of my home, I am pissed, frightened, anxious, and depressed.
On Saturday, I called 911 twice to report seven fires, six of which only appeared on a map yesterday! I called CalFire, the United States Forest Service (two ranger districts), the Humboldt County Sheriff Department, the Trinity County Sheriff Department, and our local volunteer fire department. I wanted to know what road I could take out of our valley if I needed to escape the firestorm. The response, “Ma’am, there are fires everywhere. We don’t know where they are or what roads are open.” I felt trapped, and we began putting dozer lines around our meadow, hooking up more sprinklers, and connecting fire hoses to the pump in our pond.
Friends of ours in Mendocino were told by CDF, “We have so many fires, you are on your own.” YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN! Five days later, there has still not been any agency to help with their fire; however, the BLM showed up to tell them to stop using private bulldozers to put fire lines in around the blaze on public land. They didn’t listen and protected their homes on their own.
We’ve been through fire before, but never of this magnitude. There is no doubt that local agencies are doing the best they can with limited resources. The Firefighter Blog explains:
The State of California is in the midst of the worst wildfire crisis in modern state history. More than 900 wildland fires are burning, many unstaffed. Incident commanders are making do with skeleton crews in most cases.
Of course, the priority for resources has been homes and life, and I commend the job the firefighters are doing, but why did it take our governor three days to declare a state of emergency from the fires? Does he not work on the weekends during a natural disaster? Why do we have skeleton crews? The most apparent lack of support is air support. We are lucky if one plane or helicopter shows up for an hour to fight one fire out of 80 in our smoldering community.
The Bush administration has left this country’s infrastructure to deal with natural disasters in shambles. National Guard troops and resources are in Iraq, and local agencies are underfunded. Increased wildfires have been predicted as a result of global warming; this should not have hit us out of the blue. If we can’t handle natural disasters on our own, we need to ask other countries for help. We often send assistance to other countries during times of need. It’s time to swallow our patriotic pride and admit we can’t fight the magnitude of these fires on our own. We let immigrants earn citizenship by fighting in our wars; why not let them earn citizenship for fighting wildfires?
Locals are trying to make noise to get anyone’s attention: We are in DESPERATE need of help! We have been contacting our county board of supervisors, who have been trying their best to get us resources. We have called the governor, Boxer, Feinstein, Berg, etc. We receive compassionate responses to our pleas for help, but the answer is always the same: We don’t have any resources to send your way. Here is what one impassioned citizen wrote:
We appreciate your efforts in the past week to try and obtain the needed resources to fight the fires in Trinity County. However after five days, there are still few if any resources on any of the eighteen or so fires threatening our home and business, and the homes of our eight to ten other neighbors. All told there are about ten houses, one commercial building, our winery, numerous barns and outbuildings( probably about 25 ) and historic ranches that are being threatened. After we called 911 on Friday afternoon, a spotter plane flew over Friday night, but since then no planes or helicopters have worked on any of the eighteen fires near us…So far the weather has been ok so the fires have not spread too badly, but we need resources at some point to fight these fires, or they will eventually reach our homes and businesses, our lives that we have built over the past twenty years and longer. We are trying our best to be patient, but it is difficult. While we were watching the fires burn last night from our deck, we realized there is at least one that is not on the map and does not have a name…We are doing what we can to remain safe, keep our place green, build defensible barriers, and would like to remain here as long as we can to keep our place safe, especially since so far very little help appears to be on the way. Help is getting closer, which is a good start, but I wish it could get even closer. The fire camps are quite large, I hope they can spare some bodies out our way, and any air support would really help both the fires and our spirits. More resources are needed or the situation in Northern California could turn into another Hurricane Katrina type situation when the government took too long to take care of its citizens.
Local citizens have stepped up to the plate to keep each other informed and squelch wild rumors. What few firefighters have arrived have needed locals to help them find roads and locate fires on the map. Email has been utilized to keep the community informed; however, power was turned off to our town two days ago because of fire near the poles. Maps finally showed up yesterday at the store, and tomorrow there will be a community meeting. The information aspect of the fires is improving, as our local volunteer fire chief explained, “I don’t feel like a mushroom anymore, kept in the dark and fed s**t.” Despite local information efforts, websites reporting incident news are unreliable. This occurs every fire season, when the server for InciWeb can’t handle the demand. Firefighters and families rely on InciWeb for updated information, why can’t the government upgrade the server?
We are lucky the thunderstorms occurred early in fire season, when much of the foliage is still green. These fires are moving slowly, for the most part, which has been a blessing, as agencies scramble for very limited resources. The weather has mostly cooperated with cooler temperatures and light winds, but more thunderstorms are predicted for this weekend.
Image: Redding.com
I’ve been a professional wildland firefighter for the past 4 years.
BM is right. The amount of people we would have to keep on hand to fight 800 fires would be absolutely insane. Lets pretend that each one of these fires got to be 20 acres max. There would be 20-40 people on each fire for at the VERY least 5 days. That’s 16000 to 32000 people. Also, there would have to be firefighters left at the station to respond to new fires, medicals, and rescue operations.
I worked on a type 3 engine, the type that responds to residential areas for urban interface. Our sole purpose is to try to prepare houses for an incoming flame front. That being said, if we have houses that have brush all around them, full gutters, and wood stacked by the deck, we are going to take about 20 seconds to look at the structure and mark it off as a loss. We would then move on to the next one.
We are only going to put effort into houses that have a chance (we’re on a very very very strict time limit. We want to be out of there or in a safe place when the fire finally arrives). You can make your house have a chance by creating the defensible space that the CDF/ Forest Service recommends.
If you live in a remote wooded area, and neglect to prepare your home, there is a solid chance that you will lose it if a major fire rolls through. It’s your responsibility.
On the other hand, if you do not live in a wooded area, and feel the need to call the people posting here idiots, you need to shut your trolling mouths. Your comments have absolutely zero relevance to the topic at hand.
If Katrina taught us anything… it’s every person for themself.
Dont rely on the government to protect you or your property, living where you do would have hopefully made you a survivalist, do what you have to.
John and BM, I agree that the enormity of the situation would require a huge staff, that is why I suggested in the post that it might be time to ask other countries for help. I am fortunate that my home is one that has been saved in the past by firefighters, and it is very defensible. I just returned from a community meeting with the county sheriff and two forest service districts. The type 1 commander stated that we are at a level 5 for preparedness across the country (I hope I am getting the terminology right). That means that all resources are deployed, so any event across the whole country right now will fight for resources that are already being used. The new fires in New Mexico can attest to that. It was interesting watching one FS ranger talk about not being able to get any air support and the other saying it was because they had all available helicopters. They have issued orders upon orders for more crews and copters, but there aren’t anymore to be had. They can’t even get food, tables, chairs, etc. to these guys because of road closures from the fires. These guys/gals have been doing an amazing job with what little resources they have! We need to have back up plans for when disasters go beyond what we can handle with regular staffing. If the global warming predictions are true, we will be facing severe weather disasters more often. Individuals and government agencies need to be prepared.
The fire emergency in No Cal and our response to it, is a good indicator of our resilience as individuals, as a community, as a state, as a nation. We are getting a good measure of how well we can respond to unexpected shocks. It appears that we are entering a period of increased instability. The lightning storm that started the fires out here was a never before seen event. There are now 1083 fires going at once? Is this what they call “black swans” on Wall Street? From here in Hyampom where we have had smoke veiled days of 100 yd visibility, I’ve seen example after example of personal resilience and even humor in the face of terrifying prospects. Jennifer being one. The Hyampom community is showing itself to be tough, resourceful and resilient. The County, State and National levels – pretty thin, pretty confused, pretty weak. Trinity County Health Services responded by sending someone to town with a care package the other morning. Delivered to the General Store, the package was found to contain a big bag of flavored condoms. Hmmm.
Hey Jennifer, sorry I have to say I was little harsh with my first response.
However, I spent 10 years as a Hotshot firefighter in California Idaho, and Nevada. I’ve fought fire in every western state other than Hawaii. ANd I’ve walked through enough burned communities to know that everyone who is effected by fires thinks they are immune until the fire is burning through their backyard.
You live in the woods, the woods burn.
Yes brush reduction has to happen, in the past brush reduction has been the roll of regular forest fires.
However with the encroachment of people (like-you) farther and farther into the woods, and some generally poor forest management on all sides private and government, you find yourself up sh*t creek without a paddle, or up fire mountain without a hose.
So what’s the answer? More firefighters? I don’t think so, California has a ton of them. Do you really think putting unskilled migrant workers on a fireline is going to help you? Unskilled grunts are cannon-fodder on a fireline, worthless as tits on a boar. Think of the liability. . . unreal. Real firefighters are skilled professionals, not slave labor.
Well, I don’t have any political complaints or comments about the situation as I don’t feel too informed about firefighting procedures (I’m a relatively new Californian). But – I wish you all the luck in the world, Jennifer. I’m in San Francisco just dealing with some mild smokiness, but I’d be jumping out of my skin if I were you – and probably wouldn’t even have the mental capacity to write such a clearheaded post. Here’s hoping to more fires being squelched this weekend.
Katrina, was a failure of LOCAL GUVMINT. How many people actually died and how long are we gonna hear about this? Christ I am sick of it!
If you live in California you are buying into a eco-disaster nightmare, too many people not enough land. Quit building in the forest, who do you think you are frickin Snow White? Get your dwarves to put out the fires! California is where all the countries detrious collects, I say let ‘em burn with their gay marriage, global warming and gangs!
Jesse B, I did not mean to imply that firefighters are unskilled labors, and as you say, they are highly trained; however, I have seen locals jump on to help building hand lines around homes under the direction of these skilled firefighters. I am not saying we shouldn’t train immigrants, but if we think we can train them to fight in Iraq, then we should be able to train them to fight fires. Not sure if its an answer, but it is an idea.
Also, Native Americans have made their homes in the mountains since the beginning of time. My property was homesteaded in 1906. People have been living here a long time, longer than the suburbs that used to be family farms where I suspect many of the people leaving negative comments here live.
At the meeting last night, we were told that a plane that can hold 12,000 gallons of water is coming today from Canada (can’t remember the plane’s name). The plane was supposed to be here yesterday, but it was held up in customs for a day. This is the kind of thing that I think we need to fix when facing disasters of this magnitude. As you know from your firefighting experience, that a day in a the life of a fire can be huge. Also, we have some fires out here with only 2 hot shots on them. We are lucky to have those 2, so more firefighters may be part of the equation. The response is starting to come here, which I am thankful. I just think it shouldn’t take a whole week. And I have nothing but respect and gratitude for the firefighters working without much sleep for 14 days straight.
I also want to mention that even if you live in the city, wildland fires can affect you beyond smoke. Electrical transmission lines run across wildlands to get to your city. Also, we currently have two highways (36,299) closed that link I-5 to the 101 due to fires. These are major arteries in N. CA.
good morning, Jennifer, I’m so glad I ran across your blog. I’ve been looking at the fire map, and I know that fires in your area seem to be very very bad, and I’d been figuring they were likely among the fires that were burning unchecked due to lack of resources.
First things first: we all need emergency services, no matter where we live. There is no place in this country that isn’t potentially threatened by some kind of disaster or other — if you don’t have fires, you have earthquakes, or tornadoes, or hurricanes or nor’easters, or 12 feet of snow, or a big city taken out by a chunk of a meteorite. And that’s not even mentioning terrorist attacks, pandemics like bird flu (scientists say another epidemic will happen, it’s not a question of “if”), or chemical plant disasters.
Those posting the idiotic comments would, there is no doubt in my mind, be the FIRST to expect to be helped when their own disaster hit, the FIRST to whine and complain — and the LAST to go out and help their neighbors the way we here in rural N. CA have been doing.
See this article re: the fire at Greenfield Ranch near Ukiah.
http://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/ci_9696134
Personal responsibility is essential, certainly; but we cannot all have helicopters and paid firefighting crews at our command — this is why we pay taxes, among other reasons, to have emergency services — and thanks to all of the wonderful people out there providing them today.
And, as Jennifer has pointed out, putting the fires out doesn’t just benefit those rural residential residents who live out in the woods — here in Mendocino County, the worst air is in the Ukiah valley — and people all over CA, and neighboring states, too are experiencing unhealthy air conditions. And god only knows how much timber value — and potential tax revenue — is being burned up as we wait, and wait and wait for needed air support.
We need more helicopters. The air tankers are mostly sitting at the Ukiah airport, due to bad visibility, but the helicopters can fly in bad visibility. There are only 7 helicopters provided for the whole of Mendocino County. Yes, nobody could be ready on a dime for an unprecedented — both early and huge — fire scenario like this — but it’s been nearly a week now, and we still don’t have the help we need. Why hasn’t Schwarzenegger asked Canada for help already? Why didn’t the disaster get declared on Monday? The magnitude of this has been obvious since Sunday morning.
Good luck to you Jennifer, and thanks again — and thanks for being so reasonable and polite in your responses to the idiots. I hope your area gets some help sooner than later. I’m northeast of Willits, and there are no fires threatening us directly right now, although the air is very bad. We have been extremely lucky so far, as far as the weather goes — it’s not anywhere near as hot as it could be, and there has been very little wind. But we’re certainly worried about the chance of more dry lightning storms this weekend.