Orange County Fire Authority to put Wildland Handcrew into service

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Orange County Fire Authority to put Wildland Handcrew into service

Irvine, CA – The Orange County Fire Authority’s (OCFA) Wildland Handcrew to started it’s fire academy
today, July 2nd. OCFA Crew 1 will be operationally ready to respond starting Friday, July 16th.

“Having a Wildland Firefighting Crew here in Orange County enhances the OCFA’s wildland firefighting capabilities”, “OCFA Crew 1 will increase our ability to keep
wildfires small.” says Fire Captain/Superintendant John Lamb.

OCFA Crew 1 will provide firefighting resources seven days a week and Crew 1 will consist of 22 OCFA firefighters dedicated to preventing and battling wildfires.

Crew 1 will be housed at OCFA Camp 18, located in Trabuco Canyon. Many firefighters come to the crew with wildland experience. Some of the members consist of the previous OCFA handcrew and some other have US Forest Service and CALFIRE experience. OCFA Crew 1 will not only be used to fight wildfires, but also to improve fire breaks in Orange County wildland areas and for fuels mitigation. OCFA Crew 1 is scheduled to be in service from July 16th to December 2nd.
Contact: Captain Greg McKeown, PIO (714) 573-6201 or gregmckeown@ocfa.org
.pdf version: http://www.ocfa.org/_uploads/pdf/pr_handcrew.pdf
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Note: OCFA has been without a part-time hand crew since the end of the 2008 fire season. The part-time hand crew credited with keeping the 2008 Freeway Complex fire from racing through Anaheim Hills and Orange Park Acres was disbanded shortly after that blaze, and a plan to upgrade it with a round-the-clock crew was temporarily shelved for more than a year because of hard economic times.

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How fires get their names

Every year in California thousands of wildfires start throughout the state. In most cases, the dispatch center sending the initial resources to a wildland fire will designate a name for the fire, but the first on scene engine or fire official can also name the incident. Fires are usually named for the area in which they start – a geographical location, local landmark, street, lake, mountain, peak, etc. Quickly naming the fire provides responding fire resources with an additional locater, and allows fire officials to track and prioritize incidents by name. For example during the Southern California Fire Siege of 2003, the largest wildland fire in California history, the Cedar Fire in San Diego County, was named after the Cedar Creek Falls area where it started. The destructive Old Fire, which burned during the same time period in San Bernardino County, was named after the road along which it started - Old Waterman Canyon Road.

CAL FIRE is the largest fire department in California and the second largest fire department in the United States. CDF - CAL FIRE Firefighters answer the call more than 300,000 times a year. CAL FIRE Firefighters make up the fire department for 30 of our 58 counties in California and more than 100 local communities. We serve as the incident command during many of California’s most serious disasters. CAL FIRE Firefighters respond to many various types and forms of calls ranging from structural fires, to auto accidents, to earthquakes, to floods, to the spilling of hazardous materials, to every conceivable disaster; CAL FIRE answer's the calls. CAL FIRE is the largest fire department in California and the second largest fire department in the United States . CAL FIRE firefighters protect 33 million acres of State Responsibility Area (SRA). We have over 4,000 members within CAL FIRE and CAL FIRE is associated with the California Professional Firefighters (CPF) and the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF).

CFN - CALIFORNIA FIRE NEWS - CAL FIRE NEWS

Sunday, July 4, 2010