Touching Family Letter from San Diego Fire Fighter
From: Paul
Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2007 1:54 PM
To: .Vista
Subject: FW: [FamilyNews] fires
Hey folks,
Sorry I haven’t written or called but you can imagine we’ve been busy. I went to work on Sun the 21st of Oct and worked through until Oct 24th-Weds. We knew the fires were coming because the same scenario happened 4 years ago with the Cedar/Paradise fire. The fire took a new route of travel this time passing through brush that hasn’t burned in over 10 years. Since the 2003 we’ve had a big rain (lots of growth) followed by a drought (dry growth). Those in charge did an amazing job, we knew 8 hrs prior that the fire would hit Escondido. Because all our surrounding cities could be potentially affected we were limited to only our 10+/- rigs in the city. Until Mon morning when strike teams from a distance arrived (I saw rigs from as far as SF and Sacramento) we were on our own. This was my first big fire–I saw a lot of things I’ve never seen before. Some of them very impressive and others horrifying. The Santa Anna winds through Esc were between 55 and 70 MPH at various moments. Imagine winds of that force fueling fire through 10′ brush. The wind was so strong the flames didn’t burn up, they burned down wind. So…everything within reach of the super-heated smoke was being pre-heated. In flat lands this makes for a river of fire but in the hills and canyons it makes for an anomaly known as “area ignition.” It’s when an object or substance is heated so that it is just below it’s ignition temperature (the temperature in which it ignites). In an area such as a chimney (where two hills/mts butt together making a chute) the column of hot smoke fed by wind pre-heats the brush above and then when the fire gets close enough it ignites the fuel all at once. This is no big deal in a small area–10-20ft but the incredible part was when 10 acres would go off at once. It was basically a natural explosion.
The fire moved like a river. I always thought that Fire Fighters went out and battled the fire as it came upon homes–Nope. The fire was going 70MPH…70!!! We basically drove to the neighborhood that was about to get hit, parked in a safe spot, let the fire blow over us, and then rushed to put out the houses that were on fire. Things I learned: Houses don’t burn fast! Wood decks, palm trees, dry bushes and wood piles do. There were so many houses that with their tile roofs and stucco alone would have held off the fire. But an ember smoldering on an old wood porch or in a bush would catch fire and then extending under the eves and burn the house to the ground quick.
The best came out in people. We had food and an endless supply of cards and cookies daily. People actually pulled to the right when we drove through town with lights and sirens. We normally run on average 5-10 medical aids with our station’s ambulance per day (80% do not merit an ambulance). We had between 2-4 a day. People drove themselves to the ER and if it wasn’t an emergency they just dealt with it. The worst came out as well. We had 2 arson house fires in the midst of all of it. We had to pull rigs off the fire line to tend to structures in the middle of our city that were lit off by criminals. Looters, some posing as fire fighters, were breaking into homes and stealing valuables from evacuated neighborhoods. Taggers…same thing—tagged empty neighborhoods. The gang bangers in the midst of all the chaos still found time to stab 1 person and shoot 3 (one of which died).
This whole bit made me proud to be a fire fighter. I’ve never worked so much. We lost 100 homes in our city. But for every one we saved 5 and for every 3…15. If you walk around and look at the city you’ll say, “I can’t believe that one didn’t burn down…or that neighborhood.” Pretty amazing. I’m glad I was a part of it all.
So guys—thanks for your prayers-they worked. I felt alert and strong regardless of sleep. There was definite grace. I love you all. Peace
Dom
Ps forward this to anyone I missed
-Grant: congrats on the baby
-BlaBla: congrats on the job
