Mutual Aid From American Samoa, Hard-pressed firefighters in the West are getting reinforcements from some unlikely places #CAfire

Saturday, August 25, 2018

Mutual Aid From American Samoa, Hard-pressed firefighters in the West are getting reinforcements from some unlikely places #CAfire

Singing Samoan firefighters lift spirits in fight against California wildfires

Hard-pressed firefighters in the West are getting reinforcements from some unlikely places

Anthony Wyberski
CBS NEWS

One unique crew traveled thousands of miles across the Pacific from American Samoa, a tropical U.S. territory about 2,500 miles south of Hawaii. As CBS News' Mireya Villarreal reports, their most powerful tool may not be a shovel or chainsaw, but the harmonic sound of their voices.

The National Park Service's Samoa 61 Fire Crew is comprised of 17 guys from a "little dot on the equator," as Anthony Wyberski, one of the team's vets, describes it. For the past five summers, he's made the almost 5,000-mile journey north along with a group he calls his brothers.

"We try and bring back our culture, our fa'a Samoa," he said. "We try and stay positive. What a lot of people tell us is that they've never seen a fire team so positive."

That positivity comes through music. Without warning, they break into song just about everywhere, from the mess tent to the dusty old school bus they ride into the fire zone each morning. Each day ends back at camp with the same inspirational anthem.

"It's a church song and it's just something that's part of our culture. Our belief in God is very strong," Wyberski said.

The team can earn almost half a year's salary during a month on the fire lines. But with all the grueling, back-breaking work, that's not the main reason they do it.

"They feel like they're helping America… They feel like they're part of this country right now," said Nate Gogna, who coordinates the movement of federal fire crews like the Samoans. "And these guys have so much energy that people just want to be part of it."

In a region that's suffered so much loss, that infectious energy is a welcome import from a spiritual culture on the other side of the world.

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Original Article - https://www.cbsnews.com/news/singing-american-samoan-firefighters-lift-spirits-in-fight-against-california-fires/

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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.

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Saturday, August 25, 2018