Like Baghdad, but no one’s shooting

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Chula Vista:

Navy pilots James Cluxton and Don Garcia lifted off in two SH-60 twin engine helicopters at about 9 a.m. Tuesday morning to help fight the eastern end of the Harris fire, which was threatening communities around Spring Valley and eastern Chula Vista.

The men dropped dozens of 420-gallon buckets of water, successfully knocking back the fire around the Sweetwater reservoir.

Cluxton and Garcia both said they were frustrated with other difficulties they had battling the flames.

At noon, the two helicopters had been attacking a larger portion of the fire near Spring Valley, and had successfully contained it, but had to break away to refuel on Imperial Beach. When they came back about 20 minutes later, the fire had re-consumed the hill they had just cleared.

‘You almost feel like you did it all for naught,’ Garcia said, adding that they had to spend about two more hours fighting the flames in that same spot.

Cluxton and Garcia are ‘High Rollers,’ a nickname for their air crew stationed at the Navy base on Coronado.

Brian Wilderman, another pilot who worked Monday combating the Witch fire in the northern part of the county, said he had recently returned from a deployment to Baghdad. The flying conditions Monday in San Diego were as hostile as those in Baghdad, except ‘we weren’t worried about being shot at,’ he said with a laugh.

-- Ari Bloomekatz