# Presentation: 310972

## 2007 Southern California Fire Siege

*The most disaster prone state in the nation*

**2007 Southern California Fire Siege**

**Alameda County Fire Department**
**Sheldon Gilbert, Fire Chief**
**Randall Bradley, Deputy Fire Chief**

## California’s Geography  Challenge

- Area:158,000 sq. miles (770 miles long and 250 miles wide)
- Population: 37,900,000 people (+10 million since 1980)
- Elevation range: -282 ft.  to 14,495 ft.
- Temperature range: -45 degrees to 134 degrees
- Biggest county: 400 times larger than smallest county
- LA County: 8,000 times the population of Alpine County
- California: world's fifth largest economy just by itself and is the third largest state in the US in size, after Alaska and Texas

## California OES has Multi-Agency

*Coordination Experience*

- 2003 Southern California Fire Siege
- 739,597 acres burned
- 3,631 homes destroyed
- 24 lives lost including 1 firefighter
- 1,160 local govt. engines mobilized
- 1994 Northridge Earthquake
- 57 killed
- 9,158 injured
- $20 billion damage
- 1992 LA Civil Unrest
- 53 killed; 2,383 injured
- $469 million damage
- 1991 East Bay Hills Fire
- 25 killed
- 3,000 dwellings destroyed

## California Fire & Rescue

*Mutual Aid System Resources*

- 3,556	  Type I Engines
-   882	  Type II Engines
- 1,243	  Type III Engines
-   306	  Type IV Engines
- 5,987	  Total Engines
- 200 – 250 Strike Teams/Task Forces

## OES Role

*OES Role*

- OES Chief Officer Staff
- Mutual Aid Coordinator
- Monitoring the System
- Generally no jurisdiction turf
- Agency Representative
- Governor’s Office of Emergency Services
- Local Government

## Regions and Operational Areas 

*Regions and Operational Areas *

- 65 Operational Areas - Generally same as counties (exception: LA County and the Lake Tahoe Basin); Op Area Fire & Rescue Coordinator is elected by County Fire Chiefs Association for three-year term
- 6 Regions - Made up of 6 to 16 Op Areas; Region Fire & Rescue Coordinator is elected by the Op Area Coordinators for three-year term
- They are responsible for maintaining,
- updating, and activating the Region
- and Op Area Plan.

**Notes:**
900+ Local Agencies

## 4-Tiered System of Planning & Response

*4-Tiered System of Planning & Response*

- State Fire & Rescue Coordinator
- Region Fire & Rescue Coordinator
- Operational Area Fire & Rescue Coordinator
- Local Fire Official
- Sometimes referred to as a bottoms up system

**Notes:**
Automatic Aid is included in Local Response

Governor is a fifth tier, in that State Fire & Rescue Coord. would go to the him for Governor to Governor mutual aid via the Interstate Compact. 

## Fire & Rescue Mutual Aid System

*Fire & Rescue Mutual Aid System*

**Notes:**
Flowchart is used to describe the “from the bottom up” system in requesting mutual aid, all the way through the system, to the individual resource sent to fill that request.

## Incident Command System (ICS)

- On-scene responders organize and function under the Incident Command System (ICS)
- Unified Command established when jurisdiction is shared

## 2007 Southern California Fire Siege

- Fire Organization
- Beginning of Incident

- Incident Commander

*2007 Southern California Fire Siege*

## 2007 Southern California Fire Siege

- More Resources

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- Unified Command

- Fire Organization expandsas fire becomes largerand more complex

- Air Operations

- Operations

- Admin/Finance

- Logistics

- Plans

- Resources

- Command Staff

- Resources

- Resources

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- More Resources

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- Division

- Division

- Division

- Division

- Division

- Division

- Division

- Aircraft

- Aircraft

- Aircraft

- Aircraft

*2007 Southern California Fire Siege*

## 2007 Southern California Fire Siege

*This fire siege mobilized a massive amount of personnel in a condensed period of time.  *
*In an approximate 2-day timeframe it mobilized more personnel than the 6-day 2003 fire siege.  *
*It also mobilized and utilized more and different types of equipment than in 2003.*
*Relatively low serious injury rate among the firefighters, coupled with the intensity of the fire siege, can only be credited to a strong emphasis on safety and situational awareness among the personnel assigned.***                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     **

- Coordination

*2007 Southern California Fire Siege*

## 2007 Southern California Fire Siege

- 10/20/2007 – 10/22/2007
- CA has various micro climates throughout So Cal
- Santa Ana wind event
- Sustained wind speeds: 40 to 60 MPH
- Wind gusts: up to 100 MPH
- Fuel moistures dropped to single digits: 9%-12%
- Conditions following years of low precipitation
- Dead and dying trees and brush from freeze, disease and infestation

- Conditions

*2007 Southern California Fire Siege*

*2007 Southern California Fire Siege*

- 10/20/2007 – 10/25/2007
- Wind driven
- Fuel driven
- Topography driven
- Structure to structure driven
- Direct flame, radiant heat, ember driven

- Fire Conditions

## 2007 Southern California Fire Siege

- 10/20/2007
- 1. Ranch Fire: LA County – 2142 Hrs

- Fire Chronology

*2007 Southern California Fire Siege*

## 2007 Southern California Fire Siege

- 10/21/2007
- 2. Canyon Fire: LA County – 0455 Hrs
- 3. Sedgewick Fire: Los Padres Nat’l Forest – 0600 Hrs
- 4. Harris Fire: San Diego County – 0930 Hrs
- 5. October Fire: LA County – 0947 Hrs
- 6. Witch Fire: San Diego County – 1235 Hrs
- 7. Buckweed Fire: LA County – 1255 Hrs
- 8. Nightsky Fire: Ventura County – 1430 Hrs
- 9. Roca Fire: Riverside County – 1552 Hrs
- 10. Santiago Fire: Orange County – 1755 Hrs
- 11. McCoy Fire: Cleveland National Forest – 2337 Hrs

- Fire Chronology

*2007 Southern California Fire Siege*

## 2007 Southern California Fire Siege

- 10/22/2007
- 12. Cajon Fire: San Bernardino County – 0000 Hrs
- 13. Grass Valley: San Bernardino Nat’l Forest – 0000 Hrs
- 14. Coronado Hills Fire: SMC  – 0146 Hrs
- 15. Rice Fire: San Diego County – 0416 Hrs
- 16. Slide Fire: San Bernardino National Forest– 0802 Hrs
- 17. Walker Fire: ONT – 1000 Hrs
- 18. Magic Fire: LA County – 1417 Hrs
- 19. Rosa Fire: Riverside County – 2310 Hrs

**Fire Chronology**

*2007 Southern California Fire Siege*

## 2007 Southern California Fire Siege

- 10/23/2007
- 20. Martin Ranch Fire: San Bernardino County – 0103 Hrs
- 21. Poomacha Fire: San Diego County – 0313 Hrs
- 22. Ammo Fire: Camp Pendleton – 0920 Hrs
- 23. Wilcox Fire: Camp Pendleton – 1000 Hrs

- Fire Chronology

*2007 Southern California Fire Siege*

## Miscellaneous Facts:

- Between October 20 – 25, 2007
- 251 vegetation fire starts were caught on initial attack:
- Riverside Co: 51
- San Bernardino Co: 30
- Orange Co:  49
- Los Angeles Co:  9
- San Diego Co:  45
- Southern four National Forests:  67
- Federal and California Medical Assistance Teams provide
- clinical medical care for evacuated and sheltered residents

*Miscellaneous Facts:*

## 2007 Southern California Fire Siege

*2007 Southern California Fire Siege*

*On October 20, 2007, a series of fires began in Southern California that over the next two weeks would create the largest mobilization of firefighting resources in state history.  At the culmination of the siege, 24 fires were burning, and over** **518,023 acres burned over (800 sq. miles) 7** **counties and** **10 lives were lost.*

- Quick Facts:			(Peak incident totals 10/27-28/07)
- Total firefighters:		  15,616
- Acres burned:		518,023
- Structures threatened:	  30,925
- Structures destroyed:	    3,107
- Structures damaged:	       246
- Civilian fatalities:		         10
- Firefighter injuries:	       130

*2007 Southern California Fire Siege*

- Equipment:		(Peak incident totals 10/27-28/07)
- Engines:				2,585
- Strike Teams/Task Force:	   263
- Dozers:				   225
- Hand crews:				   298
- Water Tenders:			   284
- Airtankers:				     54
- Helicopters:				     86
- Overhead personnel:		1,707

*2007 Southern California Fire Siege*

- Local Government ICT		2
- Cal Fire ICT’s			5
- Federal IMT’s			5
- Area Command Teams		2
- NIMO Team			1

*2007 Southern California Fire Siege*

## 2007 Southern California Fire Siege

- _Federal Military_ – 1,546

- _U.S. Army Corps of Engineers_ – 50

- _DoD Civilian_ – 84

- _TOTAL PERSONNEL:  4,518_

- _Helicopters_ – 38
- 1,793 buckets of water dropped

- _Airplanes_ – 23
*6 MAFFS equipped *
*     **C-130s flew 74 sorties & dropped 205,452 gallons of fire retardant*

- _Incident Assessment Aircraft_ – 11
_***Imagery***_*: U-2, Global Hawk UAV, Civil Air Patrol GA-8*
_***Full Motion Video***_* - P-3, Texas National Guard RC-26*

- _Ground Firefighting Support_
*Fire Engines – 18*
*DoD Installations/Forward Operating Staging Areas – 2*

- _Navy Vessels_ - 4

- _Other Supporting Capabilities_
*Logistics*
*Transportation (Air & Ground)*
*Medial Evacuation (Air & Ground)*
*Planning*
*Communications*
- _Specific Items_
*8,500 – cots & blankets*
*1,100 - tents*
*102, 000 – Meals Ready to Eat*

- _CA National Guard_ – 2,838
*–*  *State Active Duty – 2,482*
*        **–** **Title 32 – 356*

*2007 Southern California Fire Siege*
*Military Support** *

## 2007 Southern California Fire Siege31 Assisting States and 2 Countries

- Arizona
- Arkansas
- Colorado
- Florida
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Maine
- Massachusetts

- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Nebraska
- New Mexico
- North Carolina
- Montana
- Nevada
- New Jersey
- Ohio

- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Texas
- Utah
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wyoming

- Assisting Countries:  Mexico, Canada

*2007 Southern California Fire Siege**31 Assisting States and 2 Countries*

## 2007 Southern California Fire SiegeEvacuations and Sheltering

*2007 Southern California Fire Siege**Evacuations and Sheltering*

*The fires resulted in the largest evacuation in California’s history.*
*There was a high of more than 321,500 mandatory evacuees in Southern California. *
***Medical Services****California Medical Assistance Team (CalMAT) and two Federal Disaster Medical Assistance Teams (DMAT) activated.*

## 2007 Southern California Fire SiegeThe Future

*2007 Southern California Fire Siege**The Future*

- After fifty eight years, the California Fire and Rescue Mutual Aid System has continued to remain relevant and effective, a lasting tribute to the vision of its founders.
- Cooperation between local, state and federal agencies is a must. It is local fire agencies that make the system work with the management of full time staff at CA-OES, support from Cal Fire and the California Fire Service.
- Continued Support for the California Incident Command Certification System (Certification & Qualification System) and the FIRESCOPE Program.
- Continued Support for the International Association of Fire Chiefs National Fire Service Mutual Aid System, Interstate Compacts and EMAC.

## Slide 28