By Mary O’KEEFE
Last week was Wildland Fire Week of Remembrance. It is a time to remember those firefighters who have died in the line of duty fighting fires but also to remember those who have fallen after the fire fight.
According to the Congressional Research Service, in 2020 70% of the nationwide acreage burned by wildfires was on federal lands – 7.1 million acres. The other 30% were on state, local or privately owned lands.
“This week of remembrance covers such a broad array of incidents in wildland firefighting,” said Angeles National Forest (ANF) Fire Chief Bob Garcia.
U.S. Forest Service is part of a mutual aid program. Angeles National Forest is in Mutual Aid Region 1, which includes Los Angeles County fire. Garcia spoke of the remembrance held not only for those who died while fighting fires, like Captain Ted Hall and Firefighter Specialist Arnie Quinones of Los Angeles County Fire Dept. who were killed in 2009 during the Station Fire at Camp 16 on ANF, but also for those firefighters who battled illness and injury long after the fire was contained.
“Capt. [Dominic] Wright, who finished off his career in our dispatch center, was severely injured on a fire,” Garcia said.
Wright served with the U.S. Forest Service. During his tenure as an engineer on Los Padres Engine 74 he was exposed to hazardous smoke. He suffered extensive lung and respiratory injuries. After his injuries he moved to the ANF as dispatch captain where he served until 2017 when he passed away, according to U.S. Forest ANF spokesperson Diane Travis.
“So the week of remembrance covers the incidents and honors the memory of those who we have lost but also [is a time to] renew the health and safety of our firefighters,” Garcia said. “[It is a time] to honor those [fallen firefighters] first and foremost.”
ANF is unique as a wildland area because it is so close to a large urban area. On any given day hundreds if not thousands of people will visit the forest. There are recreational sites for visitors, camping areas, hiking trails and locations for other activities within the forest but there are also roads that wind their way through the forest, including the Angeles Crest and Angeles Forest Highway.
“Many of our forest roads have recreational access during the weekends and are commuter routes during the weekdays. Sometimes there is an overlap of those two activities so the mountain roads that have become commuter routes can become extremely dangerous,” he said. “We had a line of duty death on the Angeles Crest in the 1980s.”
In 1985, Kenneth Burton, who served as the U.S. Forest Service Chantry Helitack superintendent and then as the Arroyo Seco assistant district fire management officer on the ANF, was involved in a fatal vehicle accident when the driver of an oncoming vehicle crossed into his lane.
There have been technological advances in firefighting over the years that improve data-gathering on fires, like monitoring fuel moisture, but when it comes to fighting fire it is still very much a boots-on-the-ground effort.
“[U.S. Forest] firefighters still pack hose,” Garcia said adding that depending on the location and the type of fire module, engine companies configure fire hoses into a backpack. The firefighters pack it up a hillside and, when they get to their location, they are able to lay thousands of feet of hose on a hillside.
“We have engine companies – those are five-person engine companies – that carry five to six hundred gallons of water and several thousand feet of hose. That is one of our primary initial attack resources,” Garcia said. “These are 20 person hand crews that construct the perimeter and separate fuels around the perimeter of the fire.”
The agency also has their Helitack Unit, which aerially delivers hand crews into specific areas.
However, as prepared as firefighters may be, they still face dangers during wildfires. During official Wildland Fire Week of Remembrance it is especially important not to forget those who have fallen in the line of duty, and to support firefighters as they face this unprecedented fire season.
The Wildland Firefighter Foundation is an organization that provides immediate financial and crisis assistance to families of fallen and injured wildland firefighters. To support firefighters and their families visit wildlandfirefighterfoundation.org.