Our hearts go out to our neighbors to the east who have lost their homes in the Valley Fire. If you want to help out, the best way to do so is to send money to the Red Cross, San Diego. Because of Covid, it is hard to donate personal items.
Although the Valley Fire was dreadful, it could have been so much worse. We learned so much from our past fires in San Diego. This time there were 3 naval and 2 marine helicopters helping along with our own planes and helicopters. SDG&E has a meteorologist on staff who monitors winds and shut down the grid if necessary. All these things, and mother nature, contributed to this fire not turning into the monster that it could have become.
Below is a photo of the Laguna Hotshot Team, which is based Cleveland National Forest. They were not on the Valley Fire as they had just been deployed to the Creek Fire, but Hotshot teams were assigned, however. Hotshot firefighters are elite, highly trained wildland firefighters. They are the men and women who go right up to the fire to cut line. If they get over taken by the fire their last resort is to jump into their fire shelters, which are fireproof foil bags. September 8th on a fire up in Big Sur a team of Hotshots were over run by fire. Three of the firefighters were injured. When someone is injured the entire team goes to the hospital and they sleep in the parking lot, they stay together as a team.
The wildland firefighters are not trained to put out house fires. They will wrap certain historic and important back country properties in a fire proof foil, This is how the crew mentioned above got injured, they were trying to protect their station. The firefighters have no breathing apparatus because they have to be able to have an unobstructed view around them so they can to run like hell if the fire comes towards them, or if a tree starts to fall on them.
Once the fire is out the mop up starts. The firefighters have to dig down to the roots of a damaged tree to see it the fire is still burning underground. They also have to roll up, sometimes hundreds of miles of hose. This can take days. They put the hose on a wheel and roll it by hand. After it has been rolled it is then sent to a facility where it is sterilized and examined carefully for holes and damage. It has to go through this process as seeds and contaminates from one part of the country cannot be transferred to another.
If you want to see what the life of a wildland firefighter is really like, watch the movie Only The Brave. Also check out the SDG&E video called Everything In Our Power. It is very interesting and informative. Most importantly neighbors, if we get threatened, have a plan, gas up your cars, charge your phones, have a “To Go Bag”, shut off your gas, leave your lights on and LEAVE EARLY!
Please go to our website at casadeoroalliance.org to read the full article, and other informative articles about our area.
