Fire Training Exercise Burns Out of Control

A training exercise for three U.S. Forest Service units went sour Friday when a few small “controlled fires” erupted into a blaze that destroyed 40 acres of grass and brush before it was brought under control.

About 100 additional firefighters from the Forest Service and the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection were called to fight the blaze in an unincorporated area about five miles northeast of Piru, said Joe Pasinato, spokesman for the Forest Service.

“The fire currently does not have any forward rate or spread or movement,” he said at 3:40 p.m. “It’s looking very good out there.”

Firefighters, however, did not expect to have the blaze extinguished until after midnight, Pasinato said.

An unidentified firefighter suffered a mild case of heat exhaustion and was treated at the scene, he said.

“No structures were threatened and no structures were lost,” Pasinato said.

The exercise, involving three Forest Service engines and 15 firefighters, began at 9:49 a.m. when small piles of grass and dead vegetation were intentionally ignited.

By 10:30 a.m., slight winds helped push the fire so that it burned past the “control line” and up a nearby hill, Pasinato said.

The control line is an area up to several feet wide that is cleared of any flammable material surrounding the test fire spot, he said.

Pasinato said three helicopters were called in to drop water over the fire and that three additional engines were also used.