March ARB firemen help fight neighborhood fire

Published Nov. 26, 2008
By Will Alexander
452nd Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs

MARCH AIR RESERVE BASE, Calif. -- A fire engine with a crew of four from March ARB joined about 3,750 fire personnel dispatched to fight the Freeway Complex Fire that ignited Nov. 15.

The massive blaze, which is being called the worst since the Bel Air -Brentwood Fire in November 1961, destroyed about 250 homes and apartments, and charred nearly 29,000 acres.

The fire started at about 9 a.m. just north of the 91 Freeway near Green River Road. Investigators believe a hot catalytic converter on a car travelling down the freeway accidently set off the blaze. When the fire began to tear through nearby communities, Robert Fox of the March ARB Fire Department said he knew his team would be called up.

"We were at the fire station when we got the word to dispatch," he said. "We knew early Saturday that it was a high red flag day, and that there were more fires breaking out during the day. We expected we were going to be dispatched."

Mr. Fox and his team of Michael Goodman, Eric Russell and Senior Airman Josh Bauman were dispatched from the Air Force Reserve Command installation to Fire Station No. 18 in Riverside. They joined four other engines from nearby communities to converge as Strike Team 6050A. The fire engine crews got a quick brief from the strike team leader and convoyed to where the fire was destroying homes on Morningstar Drive in Anaheim Hills.

"We headed right to the fire scene," said Mr. Fox, "which is really pretty rare. Usually you're going to stage in fire camp or go to another station to stage, but this was an immediate-need situation, and we went right to the fire."

With the mission to provide structure protection, the strike team arrived on Morningstar Drive to find homes being gutted by monstrous flames and others, untouched, but threatened by those flames.

"Orange County (Fire) tried to do an interior on a particular house," said Mr. Fox. "That means they were trying to go inside and fight the fire, and it just overwhelmed them. It was too dangerous. Things were going to fall through the roof.

"They pulled out and were going to write it off," he said. "We attacked the fire because we knew that the exposure severely threatened the house next to it. We would have lost it."

Mr. Fox said one of the common ways fires spread from one house to another is through the vents on the upper portion of the home, near the attic.

"The homes have tile roofs and stucco on the outside, but the heat goes right through those vents. There, you just have raw wood two by fours. Once that gets going, it's usually a hidden fire for a little while. That's what usually burns these homes."

From late morning Nov. 15 to late night Nov. 16, the team went from house to house knocking down primary fires, protecting the exposed homes next to them, dousing hot spots and flare-ups, and overhauling the skeletons of burned homes.

"It was Santa Ana wind conditions, so we had really strong gusts," said Mr. Fox. "We had embers that, when one house was burning, the embers might cover three or four houses. So it was a real threat of spotting. And during the overhaul, you have to be careful because houses are partially collapsed."

The fires were so violent and unpredictable that the strike team couldn't afford to get any real sleep until Nov. 17. So between firefights, the firemen took quick catnaps on curbs, in the hose bed of the truck, or sitting in the seat of the truck while leaning against the steering wheel.

Besides not getting enough rest, Airman Bauman said one of his worst moments happened after the team was putting out hot spots on a home that burned to the ground. Just as they were about to leave, the homeowners pulled up in a camper, fresh from vacation. They were in horror because they had no idea that their home was threatened.

"They saw their home was destroyed," said Airman Bauman, who is on a six-month training stint with the March ARB Fire Department. "The neighbors came out and comforted them, but the neighbor's home was OK."

There were other memorable moments, according to firefighter Eric Russell.

"A guy saw us on the news," said Mr. Russell. "He saw Mike (Goodman) putting a master stream on a house, and the house next door -his home - was saved. He said, 'March Fire saved our house.' I said no, no, we were part of a team.

"That's the first time I've gotten that one," said Mr. Russell. "You saved my house. That was really cool."

Another touching moment came when members of an Orange County strike team delivered a teddy bear to a man who had lost just about everything else in his home. The stuffed bear had been passed down as a family heirloom since the 1940s. March ARB firefighters helped extinguish the fire in that home.

Mr. Fox said another memorable moment for his team was when residents, who were allowed back into their home on Nov. 17, expressed their gratitude by offering their thanks, water, soda, food, showers and "cushy" chairs.

"This is the kind of work that I enjoy - firefighting," said Mr. Fox. "There were a lot of other fire departments in the area and there were different crews, but we were on a strike team with four other fire departments. We all worked together really well. It was a good team effort and really great teamwork.

"The job got done smoothly, in my opinion."

With the fires well contained by Nov. 19, Strike Team 6050A cruised through the affected area looking for hot spots, inspecting burned areas and sifting through the rubble of destroyed structures to make sure nothing was hot. (Air Force Reserve Command News Service)