They were working as a hand crew in a remote location east of Oroville, California
October 5, 2020 | 1:46 p.m. PDT
Map shows the location of the CHP helicopter October 4, 2020 shortly before extracting the four National Guard personnel on the Bear Fire, part of the North Complex of fires in Northern California. The location is based on the coordinates displayed on the CHP video.
Four members of the California National Guard serving as wildland firefighters were rescued by a helicopter hoist.
It happened on a steep slope Sunday afternoon, October 4, 2020 on the Bear Fire, part of the North Complex of fires 18 air miles east of Oroville.
A California Highway Patrol Helicopter, H20, picked up a Nevada County Fire Helicopter Rescue Technician who was inserted via hoist to facilitate the extraction of the firefighters north of the South Fork of the Feather River. All four firefighters were hoisted and transported to a waiting Butte County ambulance for transport to Oroville Hospital. All are expected to make a full recovery, according to the CHP.
The CHP reported that the guard members had “extremity and heat related injuries.” CBS Sacramento said the personnel were treated for injuries to their legs and heat exhaustion.
Screenshot from video of the hoist rescue of firefighters
More than 600 California National Guard members are assisting with the wildfires in the state. The four that were extracted were part of a hand crew working in a remote location.
The crew was working on the portion of the North Complex that is being managed by CAL FIRE.
We have left messages with the agency to obtain more information. When we hear back we will update this article.
Area Command Team 2 led by Tim Sexton was assigned to the Southern California Operations Center in mid-September to assist with strategic planning for the rest of the fire year.
These screen shots are borrowed from a PowerPoint presentation the team developed (3.6 Mb) of the likely fire activity, scheduled resource availability, likely resources needs, the gap between needs and availability, and suggestions on how to address the gap.
The group looked back at the previous four years of fire activity and the use of firefighting resources to help predict what the needs are going to be during the rest of the calendar year, or “Fire Year” as we are hearing these days. Of those four years, one was an outlier, 2019, with much less fire activity than average, so it was not used to predict resource needs. The 2,210,266 acres burned in the 49 states outside of Alaska in 2019 was the lowest total since 2004. Almost twice that many acres have already burned in just California so far this year, according to CAL FIRE October 2, 2020.
The slides shown here are 11 of the 15 in the presentation.
California Interagency Incident Management Team 5 briefs the incoming Type 3 IMT from the New York City Fire Department. The FDNY IMT will assume command of the Dolan Fire at 7 a.m. October 6, 2020.
A Type 3 Incident Management Team from the New York City Fire Department will assume command of the Dolan Fire on October 6. Since it started on August 18 the blaze has burned over 124,000 acres on the California coast 10 miles south of Big Sur, mostly on the Los Padres National Forest but also on private land.
Map of the Dolan Fire October 4, 2020.
Below is information released by New York City.
FDNY Sends 50 of New York’s Bravest to Fight Dolan Fire in Central California
October 2, 2020
NEW YORK—Mayor Bill de Blasio today announced that the FDNY Incident Management Team (IMT), comprised of 50 members of the FDNY, will deploy to Pacific Valley Station, California, to support the containment effort for the Dolan fire that is currently devastating the Central Coast region. This is the largest-ever single FDNY IMT deployment to a wildland fire. The IMT leaves today, Friday, October 2nd, for a two-week deployment.
“New Yorkers don’t turn away from a friend in need. Our City doesn’t, either,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “Our hearts go out to all those affected by Dolan already, and I’m proud to work with the State of California to provide the support it needs to keep Americans safe. We look forward to welcoming New York’s Bravest back home soon after a job well done.”
The FDNY IMT will assist with managing the operations, planning, and logistics for the containment effort, which is extremely difficult because the Dolan Fire is up against steep terrain that is inaccessible to most fire suppression efforts. FDNY IMT will use drones to locate hotspots so helicopters can extinguish the fire, supervise the strengthening of existing fire lines, and monitor the potential spread of fire into additional areas.
The team will also be supervising fire units operating across large geographic areas of the forest; tracking all resources, including Firefighting personnel and apparatus; and tracking costs related to equipment, food, and supplies, as well as possible injuries to first responders operating in the fire line area.
“FDNY members will go to any lengths – and even well beyond the borders of our city – to help those in need of our assistance,” said Fire Commissioner Daniel A. Nigro. “When massive fires and natural disasters cause damage across the country, the men and women of our Department’s highly-trained Incident Management Team always answer the call for help. I know they will make an immediate impact in the extensive containment efforts already underway.”
A separate group of 15 members of the FDNY IMT returned home one week ago after a two-week deployment to Oregon to assist with containment and management of the Brattain Fire in the Fremont-Winema National Forest.
IMTs are trained teams of first responders responsible for overseeing large-scale long-duration incidents and emergencies, including forest fires, earthquakes, hurricanes, and other natural disasters. Following September 11th, 2001, an IMT from the United States Forest Service greatly assisted FDNY with the rescue and recovery effort at the World Trade Center site. From this experience, the FDNY IMT was created to manage incidents in New York City and across the country. The FDNY IMT has responded to multiple national emergencies, from forest fires; to New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina; to Broome County, NY following Hurricane Irene; to here in New York City after Hurricane Sandy. The FDNY IMT consists of more than 300 FDNY members from all ranks in the Department with specialized training in incident command, rescue operations, logistics, and planning.
(End of news release)
The introduction to the article was edited October 4, 2020 to correctly show the start date of the Dolan Fire as August 18, 2020.
Stephen Pyne wondered if there was any correlation between mass shootings and the number of structures destroyed each year in wildfires. Here, with his permission, are the facts he uncovered.
Mr. Pyne, who was a firefighter at the Grand Canyon for 15 seasons, is a prolific writer about wildland fire. His most recent book is “To the Last Smoke”.
Map of the Glass Fire. The red line was the perimeter at 12:01 a.m. PDT Oct. 4, 2020. The white line was the perimeter three days before. Previous fires are shown in green.
In the eight days the Glass Fire has been burning in the Napa Vally area of northern California it has destroyed 297 residences, 273 commercial structures, and burned 63,885 acres according to CAL FIRE. An additional 18,000 structures are threatened as the portion of the fire east of Highway 128 continues to spread north.
West of Highway 128 the fire has not spread into the footprint of the 2017 Tubbs Fire north of Santa Rosa, but north of Kenwood between Highways 12 and 128 it grew for one to two miles into the Nuns Fire of 2017 but has not moved much in that area in the last three days.
East of Highways 128 and 29, a portion of the Glass Fire reached the LNU Lightning Complex that burned 46,000 acres a few weeks ago, but it is still spreading in an area north of Robert Louis Stevenson State Park, five miles north of Calistoga, and 6 miles south of Middletown. The fire was not very active directly west of Pope Valley Saturday.
Resources assigned to the fire include 23 helicopters, 408 fire engines, 66 dozers, 27 hand crews, and 49 water tenders for a total of 2,773 personnel.
The first part of the video below shows a dozer line or road on the edge of the Glass Fire. Then you will see where red retardant dropped by air tankers has slowed the advance of the fire. When it can be done safely, firefighters on the ground or on dozers will need to construct a bare-earth fireline where the fire has burned into or through the retardant. Aircraft dropping water or retardant do not put out a fire, they can only slow the spread, and only if the wind is not very strong.
Photographers at a wildland fire may be able to use and tolerate a mask that traps 95 percent of the 0.3 micron particulates in smoke, but the devices are not practical for firefighters. (see photo above)
In case you are wondering, masks and respirators are divided into rating classes: N is not oil resistant, R is oil resistant, and P is oil proof. The number, such as 95, refers to the percent of particles removed that are at least 0.3 microns in diameter.
