A line of fire engines and emergency vehicles that responded to help firefighters in Southern California.
A line of fire engines and emergency vehicles that responded to help firefighters in Southern California.
A three-person crew from Lewis County Fire District 5 in Napavine rolled back into town early last week, following a stint of time in southern California helping clean up areas damaged by the Woolsey Fire.
The crew described a base camp filled with fire engines, representing fire departments near and far that showed up to help in the wake of a fire that burned around 100,000 acres.
“One of the areas we were working at, we were kind of cleaning out hotspots, digging out heat that could flare up because the winds were still going pretty good,” said John Phillips, who travelled down with Erica Lorenzo and Matthew Wallace in one of Napavine’s fire engines.
California authorities, after deciding the job was too taxing for their responders alone, put out a request for additional help.
Phillips said the scenes they witnessed weren’t as dramatic as well-circulated images taken of Camp Fire — the deadliest and most destructive California wildfire, in which more than 100 people are still listed as unaccounted for. Rather, Phillips said, they mainly saw damage dealt to hillsides and trees. California firefighters had protected many of the homes in the areas the crew worked.
They had came into contact with some families, he added, as they were being allowed back into their homes.
“What really stood out to me was people thanking us. I didn’t really feel like we needed to be thanked. I wasn’t there when houses were being saved. I wasn’t there doing the big firefighting stuff. I was kind of there to help clean up,” said Phillips.
Wallace had been to California one other time this year, in the Napa Valley area, doing very similar work. Wallace said it was a process of securing various structures — putting out hot spots and ensuring homes were still safe for habitation.
The crew worked in California for five days and were bounced around to different fronts of the fire throughout their time. Days started in a base camp in a small town near Malibu, where they slept in trailers with bunks — a step up, Phillips said, from the typical tent set-up you’re usually stuck with on such jobs.
“It’s kind of a huge event. So it’s a lot to take in. Even for us,” he said.
