August 2009 - Page 12 of 19

Wildland Firefighter Memorial dedicated

BillAugust 16, 2009August 25, 2019Uncategorized

Wildomar resident Lynn Phillips, who has a son who is a firefighter, looks at the plaques on the wall of the new California Wildland Firefighter Memorial after the dedication ceremony Saturday. Photo: Don Boomer, North County Times

The North County Times has an excellent article about the dedication of the California Wildland Firefighter Memorial near El Cariso fire station on the Ortega Highway west of Elsinore, California. The memorial is a tribute to the firefighters that have died on wildland fires in California.

Here is a brief excerpt from the article:

The ground at this wooded spot just off the Ortega Highway had been broken for a long time. On Saturday, a promise made at the same location finally was fulfilled.

About 150 officials, active and retired firefighters, surviving family members and friends gathered for the long-awaited dedication ceremony of the California Wildland Firefighter Memorial located near the Penny Pines campground in the Cleveland National Forest.

The memorial honors the more than 300 California firefighters who have died over the years fighting wildland fires.

UPDATE at 7:11 p.m. MT, Aug. 16

A person that left a comment below, BigWhiteDog, provided more information about the memorial, and the fact that it is not yet finished. Contributions are needed. The California Wildland Firefighters Memorial site has more information. Send them a check.

The commenter mentioned “buying one of those bricks”. I went to the web site and could find a donation page, but nothing about purchasing a brick. I then called Carlo Guthrie, the president of the organization, and asked her about it. She said yes, there is a buy-a-brick program, and for a $100 donation you can have your name or organization imprinted on it. The bricks have three lines of text, each with up to 19 characters.

She emailed me the brick form, and it is HERE. The form appears sideways when you open it, but it should print OK.

The Press-Enterprise also has an article about the memorial, with several photos.

(end of update)

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Thanks Dick

B.C.-firefighting helicopter crashes into river, pilot missing

Bill GabbertAugust 15, 2009September 6, 2018Uncategorizedfatality, helicopter, lodd

From the C.P.:

LYTTON, B.C. — The search continues in the rushing waters of the Fraser River for an Ontario helicopter pilot whose aircraft crashed while fighting one of the many forest fires burning across British Columbia.

The Bell 212, piloted by 53-year-old Robert Christopher Woodhead of Stoney Creek, Ont., was operating as a waterbucket on the 12-square-kilometre Intlpam fire near Lytton late Friday afternoon when it went down.

The helicopter is now submerged in 15 metres of water flowing at about 16 kilometres per hour, but there’s no sign of Woodhead, who was the only person in the aircraft.

Woodhead’s family in Stoney Creek say they aren’t commenting on the search.

Cpl. Dan Moskaluk of the RCMP says the federal Fisheries Department and a local search-and-rescue squad have boats on the water and a Mountie helicopter is searching from the air, but he says the water is too rough to use divers.

Moskaluk says witnesses reported seeing the pilot surface after the crash, prompting the Mounties to focus thier efforts on the water and riverbanks.

The B.C. Forest Service had contracted the chopper, which is the second aircraft the crash this fire season, although this is the first fatal crash.

A single-engine (air tanker) crashed into Okanagan Lake on July 25, but the pilot escaped without injury.

UPDATE at 5:10 p.m. MT, Aug. 15

The story has been updated by the Canadian press at 2:36 p.m. MT today. Here is an excerpt:

KELOWNA, B.C. — An Ontario helicopter pilot who was helping to fight one of British Columbia’s many forest fires was still missing Saturday, a day after another pilot flying overhead was unable to pull the man from the water in a dramatic rescue attempt.

Robert Christopher Woodhead, 53, of Stoney Creek, Ont., was operating a Bell 212 with a waterbucket Friday afternoon when the aircraft when down in the Fraser River near Lytton.

Woodhead, who was based in British Columbia, was last seen in the water just after the crash by another pilot who watched from the air as the helicopter went down, said RCMP Cpl. Dan Moskaluk.

“A valiant attempt was made by lowering his line and bucket into the river near Mr. Woodhead,” Moskaluk said in an interview.

“However, he was not successful in getting the line to him and did eventually lose visual sight of the pilot in the water.”

Moskaluk said police are still considering the search a rescue operation, and are concentrating their efforts on the riverbanks in what is considered a particularly rough part of the Fraser Canyon.

30th anniversary of the Spanish Ranch fire

Bill GabbertAugust 15, 2009June 30, 2019Uncategorizedbooks, California, history, Spanish Ranch Fire9 Comments

The La Brea fire is burning across the highway from where the 1979 Spanish Ranch burned 30 years ago today. The August 15, 1979 wildfire claimed the lives of four California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CALFIRE) firefighters who were working on an indirect fireline 40 miles east of Santa Maria, California. Those four firefighters were Captain Ed Marty, and firefighters Scott Cox, Ron Lorant and Steve Manley.

Joe Valencia wrote, Area Ignition, which is a book about the 1979 fire. Joe also put together a document on the Lessons Learned site that gives a brief summary of the incident.

Here is the cover page from Joe’s document.

The Spanish Ranch fire is one of the in our recently revised partial list, by date of the year, of some of the more famous, or infamous, multiple fatality wildland fires around the world over the last 150 years.

Lockheed fire photos

BillAugust 14, 2009November 22, 2009Uncategorized

Here are some screen grabs from KRON’s live video today of the Lockheed fire northwest of Santa Cruz, CA.

Lockheed fire area identified in 2004 as county’s worst fire hazard

BillAugust 14, 2009August 25, 2019Uncategorized

The fact that there is a massive wildfire burning near Lockheed Martin’s facility northwest of Santa Cruz comes as no surprise to CalFire, since they pointed out in a 2004 report that the hazard from a wildfire in that area was extreme.

An excerpt from the Santa Cruz Sentinel:

SANTA CRUZ — In 2004, a Cal Fire report called land where the Lockheed Fire appears to have started the worst wildfire hazard in Santa Cruz County.

In February, North Coast residents at a community meeting circled the property, near Lockheed Martin’s Santa Cruz Mountains campus near the end of Empire Grade Road, on a map as one of their top wildfire concerns, said Ron Christy, president of the Rural Bonny Doon Association.

Now, instead of using that information to apply for brush-clearing grants and justify fire-prevention efforts, firefighters and nearby residents are responding to a dire prediction come true.

“That was pointed out as the worst in the county, because it’s so inaccessible and so steep and so heavily wooded.” said Christy on Thursday afternoon, before hanging up to evacuate as flames approached his home off Empire Grade.

But foresters and fire ecologists who have worked in the area say the current blaze may have been inevitable. Looming in the middle of groomed timberland and residential firebreaks are steep slopes of chaparral, manzanita and knobcone pine, extremely flammable native species that evolved with fire and, in fact, require the flames to help release and germinate their seeds.

The trees and brush also thrive in an area difficult to get to and manage, even as homes spring up nearby.

“It’s just walls of manzanita and knobcone pine — both of which are incredibly flammable,” said Eric Huff, assistant officerto the board of California Forestry and Fire Protection and a former forester with Big Creek Lumber in Davenport. “You look around and think, We’re so close to the coast, the weather’s so nice, we’ve got these redwoods and firs.’ You don’t think about the knobcone and manzanita. It is built to burn.”

Thanks Dick

La Brea fire update, August 13, 10:25 p.m.

BillAugust 14, 2009November 22, 2009Uncategorized

The fire continues to expand, especially on the west side where it has crossed La Brea Creek and is now in Bear Canyon. It burned at least another 10,000 acres on Thursday for a total of 48,457 acres.

Here is a map of the La Brea fire, showing heat detected by satellites at 3:15 p.m. Thursday. The red areas have burned within the previous 12 hours. We will post an updated map when it becomes available.

Crews began a burnout operation late on Thursday on the west side using a helitorch, burning along dozer lines from the Colson Peak area and working toward the northwest. Their plans were to keep burning into the night as long as weather and fuel conditions were favorable.

Firefighters have a massive amount of tools, resources, and equipment available on this fire, including: