The summer of 2024 was a particularly bad season for forest fires in California. Tens of thousands of acres burned and millions of dollars of property damage was inflicted. It could have been worse were it not for a cooperative agreement between all of California’s firefighting companies coordinated by the California Office of Emergency Services. The agreement provides for city, county, and state fire departments to cooperate in fighting large fires across the state. A limit of 14 days is set for any one unit’s participation before they are relieved by fresh teams. This assures that a few departments don’t bear the burden of a long, drawn-out fire fight.
Alhambra’s Fire Department is a participant in this agreement. This summer, Alhambra was represented at the Shelly Fire near Greenview in the Klamath National Forest close to the Oregon border. We also had a presence at the Park Fire, also near the Oregon border and, closer to home, the Line Fire in San Bernardino County. The Park Fire alone was the fourth worst fire in state history, burning more than 420,000 acres. For that fire, Alhambra Battalion Chief Mike Brown and firefighters from six other Southern California fire stations were dispatched to Chico, California.
Chief Brown became a Strike Team Leader of a crew of 18 men. Joined by several other strike teams, they were responsible for protecting 150 homes and other buildings and aggressively attacking any fires that came close. Their base camp was at the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds in Chico.
As they do at all of the fires, the Office of Emergency Services arranges these base camps to provide everything needed for visiting firefighters, men and women, for an assignment of 14 days or less.
There are sleeping trailers, showers, laundry facilities, a well-stocked dining area (called a mess hall), fuel lines for the fire engines and related equipment, mechanics (for these machines), and more. Battalion Chief Brown stayed for ten days before being relieved and returning home.
Alhambra’s crew was on scene at the Shelly Fire with five other San Gabriel Valley units for nine days performing structure protection and attacking fires. Another Alhambra engine and crew were sent to assist with fighting the Line Fire. This deployment lasted for 36 hours during the worst of that conflagration.
Summer is a busy time for firefighters and we can be proud that the Alhambra Fire Department is on call here at home and around California.
Alhambra Firefighters Protect Us and California
