CALIFORNIA'S WILDFIRE SEASON HAS STARTED
Listening to a fire scanner in Foster City, California, we heard a call from the California Division Of Forestry(CDF) for a strike team that is needed in the area of Placerville, California.
A strike team is built up of firefighters and equipment from cities, towns, and small communities to help fight, usually, wildfires. They would form at an asigned area and then preceed to the requested wildfire.
Years ago, instead of a fire strike team, the state fire mashals would go into a town and choose people from the street to fight fires. One night, my brother and I whitness this: We were about ten and eleven years-old playing on our lawn in Sonora, California. Across the street, there were two men walking when a forest service truck pulled up and the passenger, in the car, yelled your fighting fire tonight.
After a small arguement, the two men got in the car and off they went. Several weeks ago, I was talking to a retired fireman from Tuolumne, California, about how manpower was obtained to fight fires. He said that they used to go into the local bars for the men, and as soon as they enterd the men would fly out the back door.
Because of the hotness of the weather and the lack of rain, California's fire season this year should be very rough. As an example, above Marin County there has been several large fires and below San Jose, California, there has been large fires. In the Los Angeles area, there has been several large fires and in the foothills of the Sierras Nevada Mountains there has been several large fires. Offically, fire season starts near the end of May and the beginning of June, but this year in the middle of the second or third week of May fire season was declared.
When a wildfire starts, the CDF hits it with everything the got. They found out, from experience, that the quicker they can put the fire out the better it would be. Several years ago, they would, many times, control the fire and let it burn itself out. Today, the theory is to hit them, initially, hard and put them out. By putting the fires out, it was found that it was a better use of manpower and equiptment. Also, they would be better prepared for other fires.
This coming summer can be real scary in California--fires can destroy and kill if they are not controlled and put out quickly. Remember, you don't play around with fire--especially, a wild fire.
