Local help proved vital in Southern California wildfires

While SLO County crews were battling the recent blazes in Southern California, behind the scenes were two local women coordinating the response

Source: SLO.com
By AnnMarie Cornejo

When Meg Swearingen and Kelly Van Buren were alerted that their help was needed in San Diego County shortly after the wildfires began on Oct. 21, they didn’t hesitate.

Both rushed home, packed a few items, rented a car and were on the road within hours.

The 300-mile journey began a weeklong effort to assist in what is now being called one the largest fire disasters in California history.

As emergency service coordinators for San Luis Obispo County, the women are trained to assist emergency crews on the front lines.

Arriving about 10 p.m. at the main command center in San Diego County, they began working immediately. They didn’t stop until long after the sun had risen.

“We were working alongside people who hadn’t slept in two days,” Swearingen said. “They were exhausted, worried about their own homes and families, and grateful for assistance.”

Swearingen began conducting disaster assessments such as making sure enough resources were en route to evacuees and fielding calls from agencies in the field to coordinate help.

Van Buren worked with more than 20 agencies to provide detailed reports twice a day of exactly what was happening.

The reports were posted on a Web portal that could be accessed from anywhere, including on the front lines by fire crews submerged in the battle.

The reports detailed everything from the number of evacuated people in temporary shelters and the status of the water supplies there to the needs of animal service workers trying to assist with roaming pets and livestock.

The two remained in the command post for a week, only leaving to rest for a few hours each day.

“We could feel the fires nearby and smell the smoke but we remained focused on the task at hand,” Swearingen said. “There was never a sense of panic, but everyone was extremely vigilant.”

A disaster averted

On the front lines, the information dispersed by Swearingen and Van Buren helped fellow San Luis Obispo County firefighters.

More than 200 fire personnel were deployed to the fires, and more than 100 remain.

County/Cal Fire Battalion Chief Robert Lewin, working as the deputy incident commander at the Harris Fire in San Diego County, recalled how information from the emergency operations center prevented a potential disaster that would have likely added the fire’s death toll.

On the night of Oct. 22, Lewin had been battling the fire for almost two days without sleep. Exhausted, he found a small grassy area and lay down to rest. An hour later, his phone rang. The emergency operations center was calling to warn of a fire headed toward the main substation providing power to San Diego.

“You can just imagine,” Lewin said. “Right then, power may have been more important than saving a house. If the power went, lives would be lost, fire hydrants stalled and hospitals disrupted. Keeping the electricity flowing would prevent a deadly loss.”

Lewin immediately redirected firefighters and was able to keep the fire from destroying the substation.

“Without their knowledge of the area at the emergency operations center and their quick response, it might have turned out differently,” Lewin said.

Fighting through fatigue

Each day, Lewin trekked to the evacuation center at Steele Canyon High School to brief the more than 400 residents waiting there.

“I would stay until all their questions were answered,” Lewin said. “Usually, the people there are those who are without relatives or money for hotels. These are the people with only the clothes on their backs. You are looking into the eyes of people who don’t know if they have lost their homes or not.”

For Lewin, those visits intensified the need to continue the fight despite exhaustion.

“Because we visited people every day, there was never a minute we forgot about them,” Lewin said. “We knew that we had to do everything we could to get them home.”

The Harris Fire, which is fully contained, burned 90,440 acres, injured 21 civilians and 36 firefighters, and killed five. More than 200 homes were destroyed and hundreds damaged.

But it is the moments shared with those closest to the destruction Lewin will always remember.

At one briefing, Lewin had to tell the evacuees that more than 50 homes had been lost in an area where many of them lived.

“But when we told them that our guys are working as much as three days without sleep and doing everything they could, they clapped for us,” Lewin said. “Even in the face of this horrible loss, they trusted we were doing all that we could.”