Nearly 50 firefighters hurried to protect faraway homes from flames over the weekend, but San Bernardino County remained protected just in case a blaze ignited here.That’s because the county’s mutual-aid coordinator had spent 12 straight hours poring over a plan for how many local firefighters can be parceled out while keeping cities and forests here fully guarded.

“We never strip ourselves down so far that we put our own county and residents in jeopardy,” said San Bernardino County Fire Chief Pat Dennen, who sent three strike teams to assist in three fires burning in Southern California.

Dennen dispatched 45 firefighters to the blazes in Yorba Linda, Sylmar and Montecito, but he said he’s drawing the line there.

The county could do without four strike teams, but with possible high winds sweeping through the coming weekend, Dennen wants to keep ample firefighters on hand.

“We need to staff up, because there’s always the possibility we’re going to be on our own,” he said. “We can’t anticipate just one incident; we have to anticipate the second, third, fourth and fifth.”

Nearly 500 firefighters from northern cities such as Fresno, Santa Barbara and Ventura could be parking 125 fire engines in San Bernardino County this weekend as a precautionary measure.

Planning ahead is critical during fire season, which is why fire officials every year have asked the Board of Supervisors for $500,000 to better staff fire engines.

The money pays for a fourth firefighter to jump on each engine in fire-prone areas, such as Devore, Wrightwood and Lucerne Valley. Additional firefighters are also staffed in Grand Terrace, because it’s a central location and can respond to several nearby areas.

“It makes all the difference in the world to have an extra set of hands,” the chief said.

Dennen’s plan and mutual aid were the reasons that fire officials were able to successfully battle 2007’s Grass Valley and Slide fires in the mountains while still helping out on the blaze that burned simultaneously in Malibu.

Within hours of the fires breaking out in Lake Arrowhead and Running Springs, local firefighting agencies had assembled 84 fire engines to attack the flames. That number grew to 142 fire engines - long before agencies outside the county sent help.

“When you see 125 fire engines coming down the road, there’s a system behind that to get it done,” Dennen said.

Written by Stacia Glenn / SB Sun

Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta announced that Probationary Firefighter Jamel M. Sears died at Mt. Sinai Medical Center on November 11, where he was taken after falling unconscious following completion of a training exercise at the Department’s training academy located at Randall’s Island on November 10.

Probationary Firefighter Sears, 33, was appointed to the FDNY on July 1, 2008, and was enrolled in the 23-week Probationary Firefighters Training Program. He fell unconscious at about 11:30 a.m., while training at the Academy. Firefighters on scene tried to revive him but he never regained consciousness.

Probationary Firefighter Sears, a lifelong Bronx resident, was a four-year U.S. Navy veteran (1995-1999) and served aboard the USS Alaska. He also worked at TD Waterhouse as a customer rep and at Keyspan Energy as an operating mechanic prior to joining the FDNY. He graduated from All Hallows High School and attended Bronx Community College before enlisting in the Navy.

He is survived by his wife, Sherita, a New York City Police Officer assigned to the 41st Precinct in the Bronx, and their two children, son Mahlek, 12, and daughter Jya, 8.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

Written by FDNY- Press Release

The Sayre-Fire started on November 14, 2008.

The fire situation in southern California is straining the areas resources.  Equipment and manpower from other regions of the state have been deployed and many of them are already in the Los Angeles and Orange County areas assisting local fire crews.

Sylmar ‘Sayre’ Brush Fire

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Corona, Yorba Linda ‘Triangle Complex’ Fire

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Montecito ‘Tea’ Fire

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The Freeway Complex fire that has already hopscotched from one city to another in the hills between Anaheim, Corona and Chino made a quick turn to the north Sunday morning, threatening homes in the Los Angeles County city of Diamond Bar.

The gated Country Estates section in Diamond Bar was the first section firefighters decided to evacuate.

To the south, the Orange County Fire Authority called for renewed evacuations in Yorba Linda, as erratic winds again threatened homes that escaped the first wave of fire Saturday.

Officials in Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties grappled with evacuating thousands of residents from Chino Hills south into Anaheim.

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Dozens of residences in unincorporated villages like Sleepy Hollow and Olinda were lost to fire, as the fast-moving fire destroyed at least 100
residences.

At least 15 homes in an exclusive Yorba Linda enclave burned after water
ran out, fire officials said today.

The fire was renamed the Triangle Complex Fire, then the Freeway Complex Fire.

As many as 40,000 people were ordered out of their homes in the four
counties by mid-morning.

Story by CBS2

In a swiftly moving catastrophe that seemed as familiar as it was shocking, Southern California once again was besieged by flame Saturday, from Orange County to Santa Barbara, with hundreds of homes consumed by three major wind-driven fires, including one of the most devastating blazes ever to strike the city of Los Angeles.

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At least 30,000 people were ordered to evacuate their homes amid smoke that blew like stinging fog through wind-ravaged canyons. Major freeways, including Interstate 5 and the 91 and 71 freeways, were closed, making escape tricky for some. More than 500 mobile homes were destroyed at a community in Sylmar; and about 100 houses and apartments were damaged or destroyed in Riverside and Orange counties. The numbers were expected to grow.

Fire erupted at about 9 a.m. in Corona, in Riverside County. Dubbed the Freeway Complex fire — it started near the westbound 91 Freeway not far from the 71 Freeway — the blaze damaged or destroyed 16 homes in Corona before following the Santa Ana Canyon into Orange County. It destroyed or damaged at least 30 homes in Yorba Linda, then spread to Anaheim Hills, igniting at least 10 homes and 50 apartments. By nightfall, it had scorched nearly 6,000 acres and was just 5% contained.

“The embers are falling miles ahead of the fire front,” said Kris Concepcion, a battalion chief with the Orange County Fire Authority. “That’s what is creating a lot of the problems, and the wind is a challenge.”

One of those fires swept through the Cascade Apartments near Santa Ana Canyon Road in Anaheim Hills, a 250-unit complex set into a hillside, where apartments rent for as much as $2,000 a month.

By Saturday afternoon, a thick layer of smoke hung over the apartments. One resident huffed and puffed as he marched through it.

“I gotta get my dog out,” he growled, without interrupting his stride. Wearing flip-flops, he slogged through puddles left by fire hoses and vanished into the haze.

Firefighter Patrick Ochoa, a veteran of numerous major fires in Southern California who was among the first responders to the Freeway Complex fire, said he could recall no fire as difficult to fight.

“Nothing has been as devastating in O.C. as this,” he said. “This is horrendous.”

In Yorba Linda, wind-driven embers ignited at least five homes on one block of San Antonio Road, and firefighters were struggling to keep the fire east of Fairmont Boulevard, which divides Yorba Linda roughly in half. Streets struck particularly hard by the fire included Hidden Hills Road, Mission Hills Lane and Stonehaven Drive.

A separate fire a few miles north in Brea severely damaged Brea Canyon High School, a continuation school.

More than 20,000 people were ordered to evacuate the Orange County burn area, sometimes under treacherous conditions. Bobby Johnson, 18, of Yorba Linda left on the 57 Freeway, driving through fire on both sides of the road. “It was a valley of flame,” he said.

Portions of the 91, 71 and 55 freeways and the 241 toll road were closed, as were freeways in Los Angeles County, including portions of Interstate 5 and the 14 and 210 freeways.

The fire in Sylmar, known as the Sayre fire, began late Friday night and swept through the Oakridge Mobile Home Park, parts of which had burned after the 1994 Northridge earthquake. The toll appeared to be the largest number of housing units lost to fire in the city of Los Angeles, surpassing the 484 residences destroyed in the 1961 Bel-Air fire.

A dangerous, fast-moving brush fire in the Sylmar section of the San Fernando Valley, spread by gusting 50 mph winds has now burned at least three homes and is threatening several more, City Fire Department spokesperson Melissa Kelly said today.

So far there are no reports of injuries to residents or fire personnel, said Kelly.

The blaze ignited about 10:30 p.m. in the dry, brushy hills above 13000 W. Sayre Street near Shablow Ave, and has so far consumed 100 acres, said Kelly

Story by Fox 11 LA

On Friday, November 14, 2008 at 10:43 PM, three engine companies of Bullhead City Firefighters, one rescue ambulance, under the command of Battalion Chief Craig Stephenson responded to a residential structure fire at 694 Palo Verde Drive.

Bullhead City Firefighter Jeremy Cady and Captain Steve Campbell removed the debris and window blinds that were destroyed in the fire.

Arriving firefighters observed the front glass door had already been broken.  With black smoke showing from the interior, and the smoke level was to the floor, a simultaneous interior attack was ordered through the front door.

A small working fire was found in a bedroom.   This was a small carpet fire that had smoldered for a while.  The fire was limited to the bedroom.  However, two additional burn patterns were found in the master bedroom and in the living room.  These two carpet fires burned out prior to our arrival.

These three fires were considered to be debility set.  The investigation will continue with the Bullhead City Police department.

No one was living in this residence.  The home was brand new with no evidence that anyone was living in the home.

Written and Submitted to West Coast 911 courtesy of Larry Tunforss / Bullhead City PIO

As a wildfire that devastated the wealthy enclave of Montecito settled down late Friday, a second blaze erupted in Sylmar amid heavy winds and destroyed at least three structures and scorched 100 acres, authorities said.

The Montecito blaze destroyed 111 residences and damaged nine near Santa Barbara before flame-stoking winds died down and the fire stabilized. However, authorities cautioned that the totals could go higher; 1,500 homes were still threatened, and the fire was not contained. Flames had consumed 1,800 acres, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

the Montecito fire was smaller than many of the wildfires that have ravaged Southern California in recent years, but its speed and ferocity exacted a huge toll in property damage and left residents stunned. After breaking out at 6 p.m. Thursday, the fire raced unchecked through the populated slopes of the Santa Ynez Mountains, exacerbated by 70 mph winds, combustible brush and narrow roads that became clogged with incoming fire crews and outgoing evacuees.

“This thing came on so fast, you just couldn’t believe it,” actor and homeowner Rob Lowe said Friday. “Embers were raining down, they were in our hair, they were in our shirts. . . . It was absolutely Armageddon.”

Another resident said he was awed by the fire’s destructive force.

“We watched probably about $60 million” worth of houses “just burning out on Mountain Valley, a real posh area,” said Paul Morison, who defended and saved his own home in the Riviera area of Montecito. “This morning they’re gone. . . . The big house we used to look at, probably over 10,000 square feet, there’s nothing.”

Story by LA Times

San Bernardino City Fire Department received multiple calls for a house fire at the above location early this afternoon. First arriving units encountered heavy fire and smoke involvement to several rooms of an occupied residence, which had also spread into the attic.

Multiple structures and vehicles were threatened from fire exposure. San Bernardino Firefighters made an aggressive attack on the structure. The extreme rate of fire spread was due to high winds of up to 40mph.

It took 26 firefighters 18 minutes to control the blaze. 3 people were displaced and are taking shelter with family.

SBFD investigators have determined that the fire originated at a multi-port receptacle adapter that did not have surge protection.