Did Orange County get short-changed?

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Kris Concepcion, Orange County Fire Authority battalion chief, said in a briefing that he understood that Los Angeles and San Diego counties were in exactly the same situation as Orange County, ‘but despite that we’re fighting the fight regardless and at this point we’re not expecting more help.’

In the morning, Orange County already had 500 firefighters, and that number stayed the same throughout the day. The county also had 2 water-dropping helicopters; no fixed-wing aircraft was used because the winds were too erratic and dangerous. The only help the county received was from Corona and other cities within Orange County. ‘This is simply a matter of supply and demand and the supply is greater than the demand and it’s not going to be met at this point.’

‘OC fire officials have asked for more resources and they’re just not going to get them,’ Concepcion said. ‘We have asked for additional resources but they have not come because there’s such a critical draw down. It is a little frustrating.’

‘But we understand what the priorities are, and we understand what the circumstances are throughout Southern Calfiornia right now even though our operation center is still requesting more help.’

Asked what his resources would have been if this were the only fire in Southern California, Conception said, ‘I guarantee you it would easily be 1.5 times the resources we have right now with fixed-wing aircraft and probably two more helicopters.’

‘Frequently firefighters had to go to or use old-school tactics, we’re talking about hand tools, shovels, picks and a lot of manual labor. They were working very hard and that’s because we couldn’t have the aerial resources and it was just too windy and too dangerous to fly.’

-- David Reyes