KELSEYVILLE >> Firefighter Gordy Clem of Cal Fire has a knack for the understatement, especially when it comes to this summer’s monstrous Rocky Fire.
“I knew it was not going to be a small one,” he recalls of Wednesday, July 29, when his engine company was one of the first to reach the blazes that started that afternoon along Rocky Creek Road and Morgan Valley Road in Lower Lake, joining to become the Rocky Fire. In the next four days the fire spread so fast that flames threatened Spring Valley.
“It’s absolutely mind blowing that the fire spread across the county from Morgan Valley Road to highways 20 and 16 and near Spring Valley,” Clem said.
Cal Fire Engine 6032 out of Middletown was at a medical call on Butts Canyon Road in Napa County when it got the initial order to respond to a structure fire along Rocky Creek Road, about 20 minutes away.
Also on the fire engine with Clem, a firefighter for seven years, was Engineer Andy Zuckerman, a firefighter for 14 years — five as engineer — and two other firefighters. Cal Fire Battalion Chief Greg Bertelli responded in his own official vehicle from the Kelseyville-Cobb Cal Fire Station on Highway 175 at Red Hills Road.
Three of the Cal Fire personnel talked last week with the Lake County Record-Bee about their experiences as the first Cal Fire crew on the scene of Rocky.
Chief Bertelli was at the Kelseyville-Cobb station when the initial report came in around 3:30 p.m. “When I heard where it was, I knew it had the potential of becoming a major fire. As I reached Lower Lake, I realized this was true.”
As he left the firehouse, he called for a full wildland fire response from Cal Fire of five engine companies, two bulldozers, two 16-member hand crews, a helicopter and three air tankers.
The report was of a structure fire but Bertelli was well aware that Rocky Creek Road was in a very rural area with thousands of acres of dry grass and thick brush just waiting to be ignited.
“I knew it could spread to vegetation,” Bertelli said. “It was hot and dry with low humidity and wind. Humidity and wind is the key.”
One immediate problem was that Bertelli and the closest Cal Fire engine companies were 20-30 minutes away, which can seem like a lifetime when there is a perfect storm of conditions that feed a wildland fire: high temperatures, low humidity, strong winds and thick, dry brush, grass and trees. Rocky was this perfect storm, albeit a ferocious beast.
It took Bertelli 20 minutes to reach the fire and in that time, he called for an additional helicopter and a second hand crew.
“I could see the smoke as I was coming down Red Hills Road,” close to the fire station, Bertelli said. As he got nearer to Lower Lake, the smoke turned darker. Even with the fire resources already responding from Cal Fire and the Lake County Fire Protection District stations in Clearlake and Lower Lake, Bertelli called for more.
He requested four additional bulldozers, two water tenders, two more hand crews from Konocti Conservation Camp in Kelseyville and another air tanker carrying fire retardant.
The battalion chief’s mind was already working ahead of the fire when he got to a clearing off Morgan Valley Road where he and Chief Willie Sapeta of Clearlake set up the initial command post.
“I was thinking about what resources do I need for today and what resources do I need for tomorrow,” Bertelli said.
“My goal was to get out in front of the fire, resource-wise,” he said. Bertelli was the initial attack incident commander and one of two chiefs who responded to the original dispatch. The other was Chief Willie Sapeta from the Lake County Fire Protection District.
“Willie and I drove in together to lead our resources in and to come up with a plan,” Bertelli added. “I knew then that it was going to be a long day.”
Bertelli said he never thinks of a fire being out of control. ”The way I look at it, we always have control,” he said. “Our job is to never get caught off guard. I get concerned about things but I never feel panic.”
Bertelli said he realized about 15 minutes into the fire that it was already burning up to Morgan Valley Road and threatening structures.
“Structure defense takes priority over brush, and life safety trumps all of that,” Bertelli said. “An hour into the fire, all of our resources were going into structure defense. Then we started getting reports of people trapped in their homes.”
One of the reports stated 10 people were trapped in a house in the Morgan Valley area.
Bertelli admitted it was frustrating not being able to actually fight the fire but said that he is constantly changing firefighting tactics to address the most pressing situations, the most important being protecting people’s lives.
Engineer Zuckerman, aboard Engine 6032, recalls finishing the medical aid call they were on and saw the smoke from Rocky.
“I looked at the smoke column and knew we were going to get sent,” he said.
Added Clem, “In a very short period of time, it went from a normal looking smoke column to a huge plume.”
Soon after, the Middletown engine company was ordered to the Rocky Creek area. “We went from the medical aid directly to the fire,” Zuckerman said.
However, Zuckerman had no idea that the small column of smoke he saw would turn into a Godzilla of a blaze.
“It didn’t really seem like anything unusual,” he said. Zuckerman changed his mind about 30 minutes later.
While enroute to Rocky, Engine 6032 was diverted to a reported second fire, likely a spot fire from Rocky, on Morgan Valley Road. Shortly after came the dreaded news that two people were trapped in the structure and felt threatened by the flames.
“When we hear that people are trapped, we have a higher level of concern,” Zuckerman said. “We’re going to do everything we can to save them. There’s definitely a sense of urgency but we just fall back on our training.”
“By the time we got on scene, there was a little fire near the house but within 30 minutes it was around the entire structure,” said Firefighter Clem.
The fire crew took on a “structure defense” posture, meaning the sole priority, once people in jeopardy are made safe, is to defend the structure, usually a house. Priority is generally given to structures that have a 100-foot defensible space around them that has been cleared of dry grass, dead brush and other flammable debris.
The house being defended had that clearance. However, within its defensible perimeter was a stack of wooden pallets that caught fire despite efforts by firefighters to prevent it.
“Once we got on the scene, we put out the perimeter fire and kept the rest of it in check,” Clem said. “We got there at the perfect time (to save it) and we fought it pretty aggressively.”
The Cal Fire crew had the two people in the house shelter in place while the firefighters protected the building. Once the crew determined it was safe, the couple evacuated in their own vehicle.
“When we heard on the radio that people were trapped, we knew that was our main goal,” added Zuckerman.
The crew of Engine 6032 remained at the house about 45 minutes. Once they reported to their command that the situation was under control, they were sent out on another structure defense assignment.
“That day (July 29) we moved around a lot, protecting structures,” Zuckerman said.
One problem early on was the lack of fire hydrants in the rural Morgan Valley and Rocky Creek areas. Engine 6032 carries only 500 gallons of water, with other engines carrying 500 to 1,000 gallons, forcing firefighters to be very conscious of water conservation.
“There’s definitely a conscious effort to save water,” Clem said. “We want to make sure we have water at all times.”
Often, the fire engines are resupplied from water tenders. Sometimes they must return to base camp to get refilled.
Another problem was that the blaze did not behave like a “typical” wildland fire, which became apparent in the early evening of July 29.
“When the sun goes down in Lake County, fires generally settle down,” Bertelli said. “This one did not.”
However, just before the sun set, the fire began to calm down slightly. “I felt hopeful and thought there was a chance to get dozers and hand crews in there but when the sun went down, the fire got really aggressive. The brush was so dry and so thick, it generated so much energy that it burned like a tree fire. The situation escalated quicker than we normally see.”
It turned into a long night for the crew of Engine 6032, who spent the entire time on structure defense, moving from house to house to house. Their front line of the battle was always the house in front of them and any possible occupants.
Engine 6032 and its crew finally left the Morgan Valley area fire scene about 1 a.m. on Thursday, July 30, returning to their Middletown station and getting to sleep about 2:30 a.m. They were up again only three hours later and soon after, back out to battle Rocky after a briefing at the Konocti Conservation Camp. They worked 24 hours straight, finally getting back to the station shortly after sunrise on Friday, July 31.
Many lessons were learned during the Rocky Fire, Bertelli said, but the most important didn’t involve equipment, techniques or strategies, rather the interaction of firefighters.
“The support we give each other is what’s most important.”
