As more local firefighters headed south over the weekend, crews already on the scene are putting in long hours in the fight against the cataclysmic fires raging in Los Angeles.
Over the weekend, Santa Clara Fire Engine 90 was dispatched to the Pasadena Fire Staging Area at the Rose Bowl as part of a Mutual Aid Task Force from Santa Clara County, according to social media posts by the Santa Clara Fire Department (SCFD). The team is performing mop-up operations in the area of the Eaton Fire in Pasadena to protect endangered homes.
SCFD Engine 97 has been working non-stop since their arrival last week. They report that they’re all safe but “very tired and could really use a hot meal and a shower.” The crew had another 24 hours of duty before they could take a rest.
“Our crews are in our hearts and minds as they help our neighbors down south,” said a city spokesperson. “All fire stations in Santa Clara remain fully staffed while these two engine companies are deployed on the fires in Southern California.”
Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety has sent additional support to Southern California to help with ongoing search and rescue work in the wake of the fires. Both firefighters are active members of California Task Force 3-Urban Search and Rescue Team (CA-TF3). Currently, Sunnyvale DPS has six firefighters and one engine on the ground in Southern California.
The rest of the Sunnyvale team is working from the Rose Bowl staging area and continuing fire suppression efforts on the Eaton Fire, says Dzanh Le, Sunnyvale DPS Captain, Bureau of Special Operations.
Created by Governor Gavin Newsom, the California Wildfire & Forest Resilience Task Force leads and coordinates federal, state, local, public, private and tribal organizations in collective fire protection and response of the Los Angeles area.
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Santa Clara, Sunnyvale Firefighters Join Battle Against SoCal Fires
View Comments (2)
Carolyn, great reporting on the expanding contributions local agencies are making to help support fire suppression in Southern California. While the Governor's California Wildfire & Forest Resilience Task Force is the most recent entity organized to prevent forest catastrophes, they're certainly not the first.
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What we know today as 'Mutual-Aid' goes back to 1941when the California Legislature enacted the War Powers Act to consolidate civilian protection resources under the responsibility of the Attorney General. In 1951, the Governor's Fire Advisory Committee developed a Fire Disaster Plan and in 1956 the board further adopted policy to reimburse contributing agencies for the services of its firefighters at the standard hourly rate of the employing agency. In 2009 the California Office of Emergency Services merged with the State's Office of Homeland Security to become the California Emergency Management Agency (CalEMA) which was rebranded the Governor's Office of Emergency Serves (OES) in 2013. The CalOES Fire & Rescue Division is doing an exceptional job coordinating mutial-aid resources from throughout California, eight different states, Canada, and Mexico.
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In addition to knowing that local Santa Clara and Sunnyvale emergency services will continue to operate with no impediment, I think residents should also know there will be little to no negative impact upon the city budget. By stipulation of the California Fire Assistance Agreement (CFAA), both Santa Clara FD and Sunnyvale DPS will be financially reimbursed for equipment and personnel deployment to Southern California.
Thanks for the additional info about the mutual aid:)