Heat Makes Job Truly Hellish for Firefighters

The flames were only part of the battle.

There were also triple-digit temperatures to contend with Tuesday as hundreds of firefighters fought a series of devastating brush fires across Southern California. And even the fittest struggled against the stifling equipment, thick protective clothing, heavy boots and helmets.

There was also the constant threat of severe dehydration and heat exhaustion.

“It’s like a vacation in hell,” said Capt. Kip Craig with the Orange County Fire Authority, who spent at least 18 hours fighting the Santiago Canyon fire that consumed 5,000 acres by late Tuesday.

Experienced firefighters said it was one of the worst nights they’ve had on the job, digging with hand tools, lugging hoses up treacherous hillsides. There was also the threat posed by the constant thunder and lightning, which started at least one of the three fires that scorched thousands of acres in Orange County.

“A lot of the firefighters have had blisters on their feet and to their hands and they also are being treated for severely chapped lips and sunburns to their faces,” said Fire Authority spokesman Dennis Shell. “That’s really an indication of how hot it is out there.”

Despite the aching hands and limbs, and faces covered in soot and dripping sweat, there was little time for rest or sleep. By late Tuesday, many of the firefighters had already put in 24 hours battling the infernos, and there was at least another day to go before they could safely declare victory.

The more experienced firefighters also kept a careful watch out for others falling victim to dehydration or heat exhaustion.

At least three Orange County firefighters were treated by paramedics for heat exhaustion and given fluids to try to lower their body temperatures, said Shell. Two were taken to hospitals, treated and released, he said.

Firetrucks were loaded down with bottles of drinking water and most firefighters carried as much as a gallon of water in canteens strapped to their waists.

It is not unusual for firefighters doing strenuous physical activity in hot weather to lose 5 pounds or more in a single day.

Firefighter Jon Turner, 23, a paid volunteer with the Orange County Fire Authority, was among the 350 firefighters who spent the night battling several blazes started after lightning struck the county’s eastern canyon areas.

He started work about 11:30 a.m. Monday and worked until midnight. And then he moved to a different hot spot.

“We hardly got any sleep,” Turner said.

Loren Lacy, a strike team leader for the U.S. Forest Service, said heat is always a factor, especially when fighting a fire in the summer in Southern California.

“You got to be in really good shape and learn how to pace yourself,” Lacy said, as he monitored his strike team Tuesday.

Capt. Susan Morris, a paid volunteer who works with Craig, said that despite the discomfort, the crew had a front row seat to nature’s eerie show Monday night that included lightning strikes, fire and also rain.

“Before we went out, we were watching the strikes from the station,” Morris said. “And, when the lightning struck here, the thunder never stopped.”

As night fell, the winds tunneled into the canyons and crashed into the winds generated by the fire, creating twisters of flames that shot 30 feet in the air.

“It really saps your strength,” said Michael Ahles, an inmate firefighter with a state Department of Corrections team. “But you have a really good incentive to keep going, you know? That fire could come and get you.”

Battling a blaze can also be aggravating as Robert Manwaring, 25, a U.S. Forest Service firefighter, learned. Manwaring was part of a six-member truck crew that spent several hours in Santiago Canyon Tuesday setting back fires. The strategy decreases the amount of fuel a fire can consume, and was being used to prevent flames from crossing a dirt road.

Manwaring and other crew members had just sat down for a break, when their chief Bill Molnar, noticed that flames had jumped the road, prompting Molnar to yell: “Let’s go! We gotta go back up.”

“It’s just a lot of hard work,” Manwaring said, getting to his feet and trudging back up the canyon.