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Fire Departments Stretched but Prepared

Posted on: Sunday, 6 July 2008, 03:00 CDT

By Rachel Vaughan

More than 500 firefighters from Yucaipa to Upland have been sent to battle hundreds of wildfires around the state.

But a San Bernardino County fire official said despite the strain, he is "fairly comfortable" with his department's ability to respond to local fires.

San Bernardino County Assistant Fire Chief Tim Sappok said the deployment of 79 county firefighters elsewhere in the state has "a minimal impact" on local stations.

"We're obviously not where we'd like to be," Sappok said, "but the fires up north are unprecedented."

The wildfires, most ignited by lightning two weeks ago, have burned more than 800 square miles in California. The blazes have destroyed at least 67 homes and other buildings and contributed to the death of a firefighter who suffered a heart attack while digging fire lines.

About 1,400 fires have been contained, but more than 330 still burned out of control Saturday.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said the state's top priority was in Santa Barbara County, where nearly 2,700 homes were threatened by a four-day-old fire in the Los Padres National Forest that has consumed about 13 square miles between Goleta and Santa Barbara.

In Big Sur, cooler weather helped crews attacking a two- week- old blaze that has destroyed 20 homes at the northern end of the Los Padres forest.

The fire, which had blackened 107 square miles, was only 5 percent contained Saturday, but morning fog that moved in from the sea helped prevent it from advancing on Big Sur's famed restaurants and hotels.

John Miller, spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service, agrees with Sappok's assessment.

"In light of the holiday, we have held back a strike team of engines we would have normally sent north," he said.

Miller stressed the importance of city, county, state and federal agencies working together so that area departments would be able to respond to fires.

"Is it a balancing act? Absolutely," Miller said. "Coordination among all the agencies is paramount."

Because local resources are stretched thin, Miller said response to 9-1-1 calls would be "immediate and aggressive."

"You got to hit it hard and hit it fast," Miller said.

San Bernardino firefighters rushed to a half-acre blaze east of Patton State Hospital on Thursday morning, extinguishing it within minutes. The blaze, in the 4000 block of Piedmont Drive, ignited after a

tractor-trailer knocked down power lines, fire officials said.

About the same time, U.S. Forest Service firefighters rushed to a blaze north of the 210 Freeway and south of Patton. That fire was out in minutes.

Three hours earlier, state firefighters pounced on a quarter- acre blaze near Juniper and Bryant avenues in north Yucaipa. The fire did not threaten any homes and was under control an hour later, fire dispatchers said.

Battalion Chief Tim Shackelford of the Chino Valley Independent Fire District sounded upbeat about the eight firefighters his department sent to help.

"A crew from the station will probably go up to relieve them at the 14-day point," he said.

The California Conservation Corps has sent 57 members of its Inland Empire Center in San Bernardino to the fires.

They are part of 764 corps members from around the state dispatched to the blazes.

"We've called out more CCC crews right now than we've ever dispatched in the corps history," director David Murkai said. "We'll be there as long as they need us."

On Monday, Schwarzenegger ordered the California National Guard to the aid of firefighters in Northern California. The order will affect at least 200 Guard members.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

(c) 2008 Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.

Source: Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

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