Firefighters warned of battle fatigue

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As firefighters began their third day on the line against the Santiago fire, Chip Prather, fire chief of the Orange County Fire Authority, warned commanders during a briefing this morning about the dangers of fatigue in the field.

“Don’t get complacent. That’s what’s going to kill somebody,” Prather said.

He added that watching a dozen firefighters Monday deploy their emergency fire-retardant tents as a blaze overtook them on a hillside in Santiago Canyon was “an emotional time. I don’t want to see that” again.

Prather also told his staff that they shouldn’t expect any more resources for the time being.

“What you see is what you’re going to have,” he said.

Fire crews will focus on saving lives and then property. And if the rest turns into a “moonscape, I apologize to the environmentalists, but that’s the way it’s going to be,” he said.

-- Mike Anton