The California wildland fire season has started in earnest. Sparked by thousands of lightning strikes, firefighters from California, other states and even other countries have been overwhelmed. Contributing photographer Keith Cullom reports that during the early portion of the year, firefighters used to be bothered by grass fires that were more of a nuisance than anything else. Now, the fire season has become almost year round. Except for very recently, there hasn't been any measurable rain in California since the beginning of the year. The number of fires and the acreage burned already this year has surpassed previous records. In the area near Keith's home in Goleta, CA, units were seen from Utah, South Dakota and Idaho. Previous fires in Northern California required strike teams from the Santa Barbara County area to move north. When the fire broke out in their own area, these units were returned as part of the units needed to deploy at the state priority incident. A big mess already and the height of the fire season is still to come.
We reflect on the time frame of June, July and August, when many historic and memorable tragic fires occurred. Among them:
- Boston, MA, June 17, 1972 - Nine firefighters died when the Vendome Hotel collapsed after a four alarm fire was knocked down in the hotel, which was under renovation.
- Charleston, SC, June 18, 2007 - Nine firefighters were killed when they became disoriented and ran out of air during a fire in a furniture store.
- Payson, AZ, June 25, 1990 - Six firefighters were killed during a wildland fire.
- Hackensack, NJ, July 1, 1988 - Five firefighters were killed in a truss-roof collapse during a fire in an automobile dealership.
- Kingman, AZ, July 5, 1973 - 11 firefighters were killed in a BLEVE of a propane-filled railroad tank car.
- Colorado Springs, CO, July 6, 1994 - 14 firefighters died during the South Canyon wildland fire.
- Mendocino National Forest, July 9, 1953 - 15 firefighters killed during a forest fire.
- Romeoville, IL, July 23, 1984 - 10 firefighters died during a fire at an oil refinery.
- Brooklyn, NY, Aug. 2, 1978 - Six firefighters were killed when a truss roof covered by a rain roof collapsed during a four-alarm fire in a supermarket.
- Gates of the Mountain, UT, Aug. 4, 1949 - 13 firefighters were killed during a forest fire.
Recently, the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation and the Near Miss Reporting section of the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) have received FIRE Act grants to continue their work in reducing close calls and firefighter fatalities. Hopefully, progress will be made on this important work.
Speaking of making progress, I recently interviewed Deputy Chief Steve Kalman of the Hackensack, NJ, Fire Department. It was 20 years ago that I responded to the fire that killed five firefighters. Subsequently I wrote three stories on the fire and the aftermath. In an upcoming issue, we will present an in-depth look at the great progress that the department has made in many areas since the tragedy - a shining example of how a fire department learned after suffering for a long time, but came shining through.
This month, Hal Bruno devotes his Fire Politics column to staffing cuts and how they affect operations on the fireground, especially when there are lives to be saved. With the ongoing gasoline and oil crisis, we hear of many departments starting to cut personnel and reducing the number of apparatus that respond to incidents. Read Hal's column on page 20 for his unique perspective.
We provide a look at some of the special apparatus of the Chicago Fire Department on pages 92-94 as a prelude to the upcoming conference and training program to be presented by the department Aug. 23-26. See www.CFDexpo.com for details.
For comments, ideas, suggestions, please contact us at [email protected].
NUMBER FOR LODD LOGO:
62
The number of 2008 firefighter line-of-duty deaths at deadline.
