Firefighter Blog

Back on July 14 as the Zaca Fire entered the San Rafael Wilderness I posted my thoughts as the fire management transitioned to a primary Forest Service team from Idaho.

Nearly three weeks later the fire is barely 60% contained, new evacuations have been issued and area residents are beginning to question why the fire is still a threat one month into suppression efforts.

One thing everyone should understand is every firefighter assigned to the incident is a warrior. The men and women on the fire lines today are the best trained and most well equipped in the world. Any criticisms I write publicly or hold privately never center on the line firefighter or the motorized angels that circle above.

I do have some questions about management of the Zaca Fire since July 14. I can offer no single decision made by overhead that concern me but rather the same general question residents ask,

"....why the flames are still burning and why homes are being threatened a month into the uncontrolled Zaca Fire."

Recall the ten day Wellman Fire, summarized on SB-Outdoors.org, that burned 92,000 acres in 1966 on the same exact ground where the Zaca Fire is burning. Here is a passage from the account on SB-Outdoors;

"Wednesday afternoon an additional 140 men are brought in to a staging area at Hell's Half Acre just below McKinley Mountain which is now considered the most critical hot spot. The men move up the steep chaparral-covered hillsides armed not with sophisticated weaponry but picks and shovels to combat the flames. In some cases they are foced to use ropes to scramble up and over rock ledges and cliffs in their assault on the fire. Above them B-17s and B-26s continue to blast the brush with fire retardant chemicals to slow the rate at which the fire moves towards them, hoping to give the ground troops enough time to open up a cleared zone.

Below them, along the Sisquoc, a fifth fire camp is establised to work the fire from the bottom. It is the first ever camp to be supplied completely from the air. Lynn Biddison, who has been in charge of Zone 1 is the first to arrive, by helicopter. Along with a small crew he sets up radio contact and a rudimentary headquarters. The DC-3 from Bakersfield is guided in by another helicopter which Biddison has already clearly marked, and by parachute it drops enough food, fire equipment, and overnight shelters for 250 men. Meanwhile the men have been trucked in to the closest spot-eight miles from the "drop camp"-but they are in place several hours later.

Quickly they break open the boxes, which have been well padded for the drop. Stoves, griddles, ovens, pans, papers plates, plastic utensils, and everything else needed to supply the men with food are assembled. Hand tools, cots, sleeping bags, axes, first aid gear and the like are also set out. A giant cargo helicopter also lands nearby, bringing enough food to stock a small store, including fruit juice on ice and even ice cream. Almost immediately a fleet of smaller helicopters begins to ferry the firefighters to the fire line, in this case White Ledge.

In just 10 years since its initial use on a wildfire, heli-attack has become a major component of Forest Service fire strategy. In wilderness country, where there are no roads, it has become essential. Once on the fire line the helicopter serves as the men's umbilical cord. They don't even have to come out for meals. The helicopter brings it to wherever they are, lowering it in a box if it cannot land. " While this might be more expensive, the men get more work done in faster time," Dick Smith reports. "It is safer, too, for helicopters close to the fire can make spot checks on hot areas and direct crews to them." Also, Smith notes, the helicopter has provided a means "to put them out without cutting permanent roads into wilderness areas.""

Correlate that to a passage from Copter Chick Desiree Horton's blog as she summarizes her days on the Zaca Fire.

"We would have been rappelling if we had our spotter, but he’s been in Independence this whole time. Most all of the helispots for troop shuttle have been rappel spots. Bummer for my crew as they would have loved to rappel in and cut a helispot."

I'm thinking old Dick Smith, fire boss of the Wellman Fire might have been down to the flight line back in 1966 picking the brains of his pilots. Desiree's spotter would have been dispatched ASAP, though it sounds like there's no shortage of helitack resources on the Zaca

Another thing about Dick Smith's Wellman effort, he and his team completely snuffed the 92,000 acre monster in 10 days from what I can piece together.

The final act of the Wellman is described as follows:

" As we cruised over it, a giant Flying Fortress far below attacked the massive upthrust of the mountain wall," Steve Sullivan writes, describing the end of the fire battle. " Looking like a toy plane on a string as it swept twice around the peak, the big B-17 sought out the most vulnerable spot, darted in and dumped its cargo of chemicals, and retreated.

...... In its wake an orange-red billow tinged the green slope. " More than a grandstand seat at an air show, this high vantage point over McKinley Mountain in Los Padres National Forest made us witnesses to the last licks of death being dealt the Wellman Fire-second largest in the recorded history of this county."

They bombed the crap out of it! Today's equivalent of the B-17 and B-26 is the DC-10 Supertanker. As we know the Feds refuse to employ it but maybe the citizens of Santa Barbara should ask why.


Finally I encourage everyone to read Desiree's Zaca Fire blog post (linked above) and read her description of the wildlife she viewed from overhead. While my biggest complaint about prolonged fire campaigns center on firefighter fatigue and related safety this dinking around also results in more acreage consumption and associated effects on the ecology.

Labels: 2007 fire season, Zaca Fire