When weather experts predict dangerous wind storms, there’s funding available for fire departments to pre-deploy extra strike teams and equipment to quickly jump on the fires that may be sparked – sometimes it pays off, but sometimes nothing can stop Mother Nature.
Earlier this month, when forecasters warned of extreme winds, fire chiefs across Southern California requested pre-positioned resources from the California Office of Emergency Services, through a $25 million annual state budget program that covers the costs of fuel, food and salaries of the pre-deployed firefighters in the event of a weather emergency. Still, the extra strike teams weren’t enough to snuff out the Eaton and Palisades fires before their flames indiscriminately burnt miles and miles of neighborhoods and businesses, killing at least 28 people.
Jonathan Torres, an engineer and spokesperson for Los Angeles County Fire, said the department staffed up and added extra engines, Fire Chief Anthony Marrone going “above and beyond” to prepare for the monster winds predicted well ahead of Jan. 7 by holding over “the entire shift” the morning before the fire started, he said.
“Why? Because he had a premonition,” Torres said. “We went from 900 to nearly 2,000 firemen and women ready to work that morning.
“Those were 100 mph winds and sustained,” he added. “Those were hurricane-type winds. If we had a million firefighters, it wouldn’t have made a difference. You’re taxing water systems; you’re fighting Mother Nature. The firefighters were running here and there to get a hold of it. No one is stopping that short of a deluge coming from the sky.”
This week, when the National Weather Service issued red flag warnings, fire departments across Southern California again applied to pre-position teams, said Chief Brian Marshall, the state’s fire and rescue chief with the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.
The requests are made and approved by a scientific matrix that determines the severity of the wind event, weather event or red flag event, he said. In June, July and August, every day is considered a fire weather day, pre-positioning is when there is more severe fire weather, Marshall said.
Each county is set up as an operational area and the local chiefs – which can include police chiefs – who represent their areas put in requests and are the emergency managers for their counties, except for Los Angeles City Fire, which has its own emergency manager.
“The goal is to determine if the level of threat corresponds to the resource ordered,” Marshall said. “So a moderate threat, you may put in for a couple of strike teams, but a severe event like what we’re in now, the operational areas are putting in for more engine strike teams because the goal in this is to prevent a big fire. We want to have extra resources that are staffed and available to respond over and above what the fire department normally sends.”
“We’re throwing everything and the kitchen sink at the fire,” he said, adding that there have been very few days this month where pre-positioning requests were not submitted.
Riverside County Fire Chief Bill Weiser, also a Riverside unit chief for Cal Fire, took full advantage of the program when the first warning of massive winds was predicted and again this week.
“We were given everything we asked for,” he said, adding that beyond staffing the extra strike teams with Riverside County Fire, Cal Fire also moved 40 engines into Southern California.
“We had more engines than during the summer,” he said. “It allows us to have surge capacity to move units into the LA area.”
He sent staff and 25 engines from Riverside County and pre-positioning resources from Cal Fire.
“We were in the same wind events they were,” he said. “I always say, ‘You’ve got to fight the fire in front of you.’ We send everything we can as soon as we can.”
Other county chiefs did the same, as did multiple city fire departments throughout Southern California. Help even came from out of state.
Though the efforts were not enough in parts of the region to overcome the disastrous sustained, extremely high winds, the extremely low humidity and a surface that was in drought conditions, Marshall said pre-positioning strike teams and personnel in the six years the program has been active has proven very effective.
Marshall said his office delivers a report on the pre-positing program’s success to the California Legislature each year.
“Battling Mother Nature, this was a real severe event,” he said of the Palisades and Eaton fires. “What we want to do is stop the fire when it’s small, prevent the destruction and the human toll that these wildfires have.”
Weiser said the extra resources in the Inland Empire this week helped stop multiple fires that could have grown out of control in Anza and Hemet.
In Orange County, a request for extra resources and staffing proved very helpful when a wildfire erupted in the wildland in San Clemente, said Orange County Fire Authority Division Chief Cheyne Maute.
The fire department had three pre-positioned strike teams in the county and one, which included five engines and a battalion chief, was driving together on Avenida La Pata in San Clemente when the fire broke.
“It was a perfect scenario,” Maute said. “They were on scene really quickly, which we wouldn’t have had on a normal day if we hadn’t prepositioned. We would have called for those engines to show up. It could have been a lag time of 15 minutes, which is a big deal in a wind-driven fire. It could have been much, much worse.”
Dozers, hand crews and helicopters were also part of the pre-positioning request.
“It was huge, too, because the dozer was right there cutting around the fire and held it to that little box,” he said. “Between that and the helicopters were right there. With them staffed and coming there within a few minutes, it was really eye-opening.”
And, when the Hughes fire broke out on Wednesday, Jan. 22, near Castaic Lake, burning through 1,000 acres in the first hour, pre-positioned crews were instrumental in the quick response, state officials said.
In a social media post, Gov. Gavin Newsom pointed to the fast work of the crews who had been staged and immediately responded as the fire charred 9,400 acres in a short time and forced thousands to evacuate.
“The resources that were there were extremely beneficial,” Marshall said. “It’s more fire engines, more helicopters, more firefighters that would have normally been ordered from a distance away. They were right there.”
Once the state approves the extra resources for their departments, local fire chiefs decide where to place them, Marshall said. “It’s intended for the fire department, who are the experts, to decide where to put the resources.”
Marshall said most of the month has been “fire weather,” and based on predicted weather, he expects to approve more pre-position requests. He also worries, he added, about what forecasted rain events might do in the burn scar areas. Pre-positioning resources are also requested for mud and debris flow concerns.