Colorado crews help to battle coastal wildfires

MONTROSE — Fire agencies of the Rocky Mountain region dispatch resources to the West Coast this week, helping to gain control as monstrous blazes engulf Southern California.

“We’ve got a handful of people available and we can support California as best we can,” Dee Fogelquist, dispatch center manager of Montrose Interagency Fire Management Unit said.

Two emergency medical technicians, one from Paonia and another from Ridgway, received orders Tuesday morning to travel to the “Ranch Fire” fire in Los Angeles county, north of Malibu. Fogelquist wouldn’t disclose their names, but said they’re AD employees, meaning they aren’t technically federal Bureau of Land Management employees.

By Tuesday afternoon, the “Ranch Fire” had consumed 54,000 acres. Nearly 600 square miles of southern California had burned, according to www.usatoday.com.

Fogelquist said because the fire season has somewhat subsided locally, most of the prescribed burning workers of the summer have since been laid off.

“We’ve got a handful of other resources we’ve made available,” Fogelquist said. “Our season is pretty much winding down and the last storm put a damper on some of our prescribed burning.”

From a five-state region including Colorado and Wyoming, the BLM has dispatched 10 fire engines, each with capacities of 500-gallons. However, all are contracted — none are BLM-owned, Denise Adamic, BLM public information officer said.

“We’ve offered up all kinds of other engines based on resource needs,” she said. “We’ve got people ready to go if they need help.”

She said that between Monday night and Tuesday morning, about 15 staff were sent to assist with the California fires.

The USDA Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain Region includes lands in Colorado, Kansas, Wyoming and Nebraska. The region has sent 14 people to serve in a management capacity in a variety of areas, Forest Service public information officer Janelle Smith said.

“We have sent eight fire engines and those all came from Colorado,” she said. “And they’re coming from rural fire departments — Aspen sent an engine.”

Each engine is staffed with three- to four-person crews and all were en route Tuesday afternoon to southern California. Because conditions change hourly, their locations will be determined once they arrive, Smith said.

Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs has dispatched two C-130 cargo planes to assist with the wildfires. They’re equipped with modular airborne firefighting equipment to act as aerial tankers, according to the Associated Press.

Contact Robert Allen via e-mail at roberta@montrosepress.com