Fire crews return from California

Christina Littlefield and Mary Manning

Monday, Nov. 3, 2003 | 11:19 a.m.

When Las Vegas-area firefighters arrived near the front lines of wildfires around San Diego, they found themselves frustrated as they spent hours waiting at the command post for orders and then fought mostly minor hot spots.

By the time they returned over the weekend, they were convinced their small role had provided crucial support for Southern California firefighters.

"We got their backs," Las Vegas firefighter Neal Carter said.

Both strike teams sent to the flame-engulfed San Diego region returned home this weekend to crowds of family, friends and fellow firefighters anxious for their safe return and eager to hear of their experiences.

For the second strike team, which returned home to Las Vegas Fire Station 1 downtown at 7 p.m. Saturday, that experience involved a lot of waiting as part of a "ready reserve" team at Gillespie Airfield, about 50 miles from the historic mining town of Julian, as well as a lot of "grunt work" following the firefighters on the front lines.

"We were staying behind the lines, mopping up stuff, putting out hot spots," Carter said. "The (California Division of Forestry) people on the front lines thanked us for covering their back."

The first strike team, while it saw a little more of the front lines, also was satisfied to fill a support role.

"It was awesome," Henderson Engineer Dale Swafford, a former San Diego resident, said after returning with the team Sunday. "It's really hard to put the feelings into words, but we were helping California firefighters and families."

Both teams got a better idea of how key their role was on their drive home, when California residents cheered them.

"It was like a parade coming home from California," Henderson engineer Eddie Causey said. "People waved to us from the roadside."

Clark County Fire Department engineer and paramedic Scott Allison, a member of the first strike team, said he chased hot spots for two nights in a row before tasting a wildland fire in the mountains near San Diego.

"It definitely was an eye-opener," Allison said. "We were knee-deep in ash."

Capt. Charles Smith, of the Las Vegas Fire Department for 30 years, said "seeing it on television doesn't begin to describe it."

Curtis Harper of the Las Vegas Fire and Rescue squad, leader of the first strike team, said it was an experience he'll never forget after 26 years fighting city fires.

"It was a very different experience for us," Curtis said. City firefighters were prepared to tackle building fires, but dousing hot spots in massive wildland burns put some of the Southern Nevada crew's training to work.

"You see acres and acres scorched, it's like a moonscape," Curtis said.

Carter, on the second strike team, said the California forestry firefighters on the front lines were moving as fast as the fire, leaving a lot of hot spots that could easily flare back up. It was the job of his strike team to make sure those hot spots were out for good.

The Cedar Fire they had been dispatched to help battle was 60 to 70 percent contained when the second strike team was sent home Saturday, Las Vegas Fire and Rescue Deputy Chief Jeffrey Morgan said.

As the California Division of Forestry continued to gain ground on the fire they began to send all out-of-state strike teams home, reducing the operation back to only California personnel, Morgan said.

Morgan, who helped coordinate the second strike team of firefighters from the Las Vegas Fire and Rescue, Nevada Test Site Fire and Rescue, Pahrump and Fallon Fire and Rescues, said he was relieved to have the crews back home.

"As urban structural firefighters we were kind of out of our element, so their safety was our main concern," Morgan said.

Family members of the strike team who were waiting for their loved ones Saturday night said they had feared the worst when one firefighter battling the San Diego blazed died and two more were injured.

"He was in the same area where they lost that firefighter," said Dick Campbell, brother of Las Vegas Fire Capt. Jess Campbell. "It was intense until we knew where that guy was from."

Family members of the first strike team members said they, too, had been worried.

"This was the first time I've been scared, especially after the firefighter was killed," said Vicki Pettingill, who was waiting at the Las Vegas fire station Sunday with her daughter, Nikki, 23, and her grandchildren.

Campbell described the flames as a "storm of fire ... it was like a tornado .. leaving only dirt and rocks in its way."

Las Vegas firefighter Carter agreed. "It's hard to imagine," he said of the destruction."I think everyone has seen pictures in the paper, but to drive through it it is complete devastation."

The second team had spent the week camping out, without tents or cover, in sleeping bags on the ground with a half-inch of padding, firefighters said. One night they had cots, but most of the time they said they grabbed what ground or cover they could find, often sleeping on or in their fire engines.

All said they were eager for a hot shower and a warm bed.

"I love camping out, but I like it with the fire, a glass of wine and the scenery," Las Vegas Fire and Rescue firefighter and paramedic Jacquelin Love said. "We had no campfire, no wine and no scenery."

When the two strike teams from Las Vegas arrived Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning, there were no camps and little communication, Curtis said.

Southern Nevada firefighters slept on their trucks and waited until they were called to douse hot spots.

Within two days, however, firefighters worked side by side and had campgrounds to sleep for a few hours, Curtis said. The first strike team even was able to stay in a hotel one night. Some of the firefighters were a little disappointed they did not see more action on the front lines.

"Everybody wants to fight on the line, but not everybody can," Love said, adding that the team did a lot of essential work, but it was the "grunt work."

Love said when they left, the sky was cloudy but that the smoke was clearing.

"Things were clearing up," Love said. "I felt like, yeah, we didn't get to fight on the front lines, but we came here to get a job done and we could see that it was mostly contained."