LOWER LAKE >> Fire crews battling the stubborn Rocky Fire along at least six miles on both sides of Morgan Valley Road are fighting two enemies at once: the enormous wildland inferno and the oppressive and unrelenting triple-digit temperatures.
“The heat really takes it out of the guys so hydration is important,” said Troy Russell, a firefighter with the United States Forest Service out of Lassen National Forest. “You kind of have to pace yourself, just like running a long race.”
It’s a hell of a job fighting wildland fires, despite decent pay and benefits for full-time firefighters. In addition to wearing heavy protective gear, the firefighters often have to carry tens of pounds of equipment up steep hills thick with heavy brush, dodging the occasional rattlesnake and fighting off hordes of biting insects.
They frequently travel on foot without the benefit of roads or even rudimentary dirt trails. And safety issues are always present.
The job is often done in thick, acrid smoke that obscures vision and impairs breathing. A frequent sight on firefighters is bandanas, often wet, covering their mouths and noses.
But that’s a normal firefighting day.
Add in single-digit humidity, double-digit wind gusts and triple-digit temperatures and you’ve got the anything-but-typical Rocky Fire that has burned more than 15,000 acres along Morgan Valley Road and is still raging with 5 percent containment as of Friday evening, according to Cal Fire
The Lower Lake fire is different than most wildland blazes: more intense in every way and undeniably scripted from Dante’s Inferno.
The heat is oppressive and affects not only the firefighters’ themselves but impedes their ability to fight the blaze. The heat makes them move slower, require more frequent breaks and to carry and drink loads of bottled water or sometimes Gatorade.
Also, some of the firefighters are from areas where such excessive heat is rare, making it hard for them to adjust to the high temperatures.
“This heat is a first for most of us,” said Engineer and Acting Captain Billy Sorensen of the Cloverdale Fire Department who led a five-engine strike team that arrived on the fire lines about 12:30 p.m. Thursday. The first thing he noticed was the extreme heat and gusty winds.
“The heat wears us down big time,” he said Thursday from along Morgan Valley Road where Sorensen and his team were hopping from one hotspot or flare-up to another.
“This is one of the most major fires I’ve ever been on,” added Sorensen, a veteran firefighter of 25 years.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been this hot,” said firefighter Nathan Mahoney of the United States Coast Guard Fire Department in Petaluma who arrived at the fire around midnight on Wednesday. “It’s so hot, the heat overrides everything else.”
Matt Ramirez has been a firefighter for only six months with the Cloverdale Fire Department and has gotten a pretty good initiation fighting the Rocky Fire.
“This is definitely the biggest fire I’ve been on so far,” he said Thursday afternoon. “I just keep my mind on getting the job done and not worry about the heat.”
Asked how the heat affects him, Ramirez answered, “It makes me drink more water and wish I was swimming.”
Fire Captain A. Grant of Cal Fire’s Lassen-Modoc Unit arrived at the blaze late Wednesday night. “My first thought was that this is going to be a big fire.”
Grant, a firefighter of 20 years, seemed to take the hot weather in stride. “The heat is manageable,” he said. “Hydration is the key.”
The captain did not seem intimidated by the size and rapid spread of the Rocky Fire, calling it a “typical July-August hot, dry, wind-driven fire.”
Given that firefighters have such high-demanding jobs, often working under brutal conditions and long hours, why do they do it?
“That’s a good question,” said the Coast Guard’s Mahoney with a light laugh. Turning serious, he said, “It’s being part of something bigger than yourself to help your community.”
Added firefighter Russell from Lassen, “There are definitely days when I ask myself why am I doing this but there are also days when I get to help someone out or save a house. Those are the days that give you a really good feeling.”
