A Vegetation Fire

In Southern California, all firefighters are wildland firefighters. The topography, weather, and chaparral covered hillsides in our service areas guarantee an abundance of these incidents. Especially in the summer. My own agency was known for our ability to fight these fires. Our apparatus are all equipped with the hose and other tools specifically designed for these unique jobs. We also staffed at least one Type-3 wildland fire engine every shift. Our excellent training program prepared all of our personnel to be highly competent in wildland fire control. Our chief officers were some of the best in the region at managing these challenging incidents.

One late morning in August, Heartland Communications (dispatch) alerted stations in our operational area for a reported vegetation fire on the south side of Interstate 8 just west of Los Coches Rd. Although it was still before noon, the temperature was already in the mid-90s. Our prevailing SSW winds were also already blowing pretty hard.

As units got enroute, it wasn’t long before someone reported a significant smoke column visible from a distance indicating a working fire. Based on the potential at the reported location, the first-arriving chief officer requested additional resources while enroute.

This particular location was well-known to us. We had attended several fires here over the years. It was also in what is known as “State Responsibility Area” or SRA, meaning it would get a concurrent response from our state forestry agency, Calfire. The SRA response included engines, dozers, handcrews, chief officers, and both fixed-wing and rotary aircraft, including an Air Tactical Group Supervisor or “Air Attack.”

In just under eight minutes, Heartland Fire-Rescue Engine 8 (E8) arrived on the right shoulder of eastbound Interstate 8, with the company officer reporting a 2-acre vegetation fire on a west-facing slope in medium fuels with a moderate to fast rate-of-spread. Engine 8 immediately passed command to the now-arriving Battalion 3 (Heartland) who directed them to initiate a progressive hoselay on the left flank of the fire. Battalion 3 established I-8 Incident Command (I-8 IC) and made E8 Division A (Alpha).

As normal tactics dictated on a fire of this size, I-8 IC assigned subsequent arriving resources to assist on the Division A progressive hoselay. Additionally, a Division Z hoselay was initiated of the right flank of the fire to enable extinguishment and containment.

With the slope and prevailing wind conditions, this fire was making a very fast run to the top of the ridge to the east and was quickly approaching 100 acres. I-8 Air Attack directed the assigned air tankers to make drops along the windward side of the ridgeline in an attempt to slow the fire’s progress. The ground crews were working as fast as they could to put in the hoselays on the flanks!

It became obvious that the fire would impact the top of the ridge, and with a large shopping center at risk on the back side, additional resources were assigned to that side of the fire, designated Division D (Delta). That was the assignment my crew was given.

I was the company officer (captain) on Brush 1, our Type-3 wildland fire engine. Based on the radio traffic, I had a plan on just where I wanted to deploy while waiting for the fire to crest the ridge. As we arrived, there were several Type-3 engines and a Calfire dozer staging in the same area. One of the engines staged was from our local Calfire station in Flinn Springs (E3382). I knew their company officer pretty well as we had worked on many incidents together. He was a very experienced wildland firefighter. I quickly discussed what I thought we should do. He concurred. We would deploy the several Type-3 engines along the midslope dirt road (truck trail) behind the shopping center. As the fire crested the ridgeline, we would start a couple of hoselays and tie-in with the firefighters coming up the other side on Divisions A and Z. With the established retardant lines (aircraft) and the loss of slope at the top of the ridgeline, we figured the fire spread would sufficiently slow and allow us to get some extinguishment. Our plan was to anchor our hoselays off the midslope road.

On my crew that day, I had a veteran engineer (driver operator) and a probationary (rookie) firefighter. This was the first significant vegetation fire that my firefighter had attended. I made a note to keep a close eye on him.

As the fire hit the ridgeline, it was apparent that it had a very strong wind driving it. It was also quickly chewing through the retardant drops! It was spreading rapidly in the vegetation between the truck trail and the ridgeline on the leeward side of the hill. It also sounded like a hurricane! Firefighters on hoselines from all of the Type-3 engines were engaging fire as it pushed rapidly downhill toward our positions. Then, with a rapid wind gust, the fire spotted about 50-feet below us into the thick vegetation on the downhill side of the fire engines spread out on the midslope truck trail.

This immediately became a big problem. Fire below us on a midslope road is a nightmare most wildland firefighters know. Fire spreading upslope can quickly overrun our position. The large spot fire needed to quickly be extinguished. Unfortunately, none of the several firefighters on the hoselines saw the fire spot oveer us. As they should have been, they were all very focused on the fire coming down toward us from the ridgeline. My engineer was the first to notice. He alerted me and I grabbed my firefighter and had him quickly reposition his hoseline to protect our engine from the fire now below us. The large spot fire quickly grew in size and we were struggling to get the fire knocked down as the other engines joined us in the effort.

Just then, the Calfire dozer assigned to our Division literally appeared out of the thick smoke, immediately drove over the side of the steep roadway, and proceeded to rapidly put a one-blade dozer line completely around the spot fire, essentially halting the fire spread.

It is difficult to say that we would have been able to control the spot fire with just our engines. We all agreed that is was definitely a close call. We were very grateful for a heads-up dozer operator.

We also learned some valuable lessons about operating on a midslope road.