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California Firefighters Stretched to the Limit |
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More than 6,000 firefighters are working around the clock, trying to contain the firestorm in Southern California, where wildfires have burned more than 400,000 acres, that forced nearly 1 million residents from their homes and destroyed 1,300 homes during the past four days.
Says Bob Wolf, president of Fire Fighters (IAFF) Local 2881 that represents the firefighters at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection:
Our fire fighters are exhausted, but they are out there doing what they do best. With such dry conditions, the fires are burning hot and they are burning high. Quite frankly, our members are the only thing keeping the state from going up in flames.
Along with the Local 2881 members, firefighters from dozens of IAFF locals—part of the California Professional Firefighters (CPF)—along with firefighters from neighboring states, are battling the fires that stretch from Santa Barbara County in the north to San Diego and the Mexican border in the south. Says IAFF President Harold Schaitberger:
Our members are facing a disaster of unimaginable proportions. They are working back-to-back shifts, under staffed and under equipped. I want to personally make sure they get the assistance they need.
News reports this morning say one person has been killed and 70 injured, including 34 firefighters. Four of those hurt are members of Local 2881. According to the local union’s website, the four were hurt when flames from one of the San Diego County fires engulfed their truck.
United Press International reports the four were trying to reach a man and his 15-year-old son trapped in their home near the U.S.-Mexico border when flames, fueled by 80-mile-per-hour winds, trapped their truck. A U.S. Forest Service helicopter dumping water on the fire spotted the firefighters and was able to land and rescue the four along with the teenager but was unable to reach the boy’s father who was killed.
Local 2881 says two of the four—whose names have not been released—were seriously injured while the other two suffered lesser injures from the flames and smoke inhalation.
For up-to-date information on the fires, visit the CPF’s “Fire Storm Coverage” page with links to media, blogs, fire maps and updated incident reports.
4 Comments
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Southern California is on fire. Now comes the day of reckoning and appreciation for these brave men and women who went right in the thick of things, no questions asked. I hope the cities affected will remember this when it comes time to negoriate for a living wage and a necessary health care. It seems good deeds are quickly forgotten.
I am very grateful for the brave firefighters who are fighting the fires in So. Cal. since I was born in San Francisco and worked in La Jolla. I now live in New Mexico and hope that they contain the fires. Thank you. David O’Malley
The firefighters need to be brought home.
I think it’s past time to bring the firefighters home. I think it’s time to bring the firefighters out of there – it’s just too dangerous. The front-line responders were in grave danger. They’re in there on a false premise anyway, that they can put out the fire. We can’t win against the fire, folks. It’s time to admit defeat to the fire, admit we can’t beat the fire and get these brave firefighters out of there.
It’s just gonna be back next year anyway. We’re putting so many brave people at risk here fighting a fire we can’t win.
Even if you told the firefighters to go home, they probably wouldn’t go. That’s how dedicated they are. They are stretched thin, and this country needs more of them each year. I am so proud of our firefighters and appreciate the risks they take every day to protect us! THANK YOU, FIREFIGHTERS, FOR ALL YOU DO!!!