Quick Take
Cal Fire firefighters from the San Mateo-Santa Cruz and Santa Clara units have traveled to Los Angeles County to fight the Palisades fire, which started Tuesday morning and had burned nearly 16,000 acres as of Wednesday afternoon. Cal Fire CZU Unit Chief Jed Wilson said local fire risk is currently low, and that the personnel remaining at area stations should be adequate with the current risk level.
Firefighters from Santa Cruz County are in the Los Angeles area, where the rapidly expanding Palisades fire has overwhelmed local resources and wreaked widespread destruction.
The fire, which began at around 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, has expanded rapidly ever since, the largest of several blazes in Los Angeles County. As of early Wednesday afternoon, it was at nearly 16,000 acres and has destroyed thousands of structures. Local Cal Fire teams arrived in Los Angeles on Tuesday morning and got to work right away. Cal Fire spokesperson Cecile Juliette said the crews fought the fire all night long.
Juliette, who had not yet been to the fire line as of Wednesday morning, said she spoke with firefighters returning from their 24-hour shift who told her that it was “incredibly windy, treacherous” overnight. Those winds have been a driving force of the fire’s rapid spread.
Cal Fire San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit (CZU) Chief Jed Wilson said that a strike team — three CZU unit engines and two Santa Clara unit engines, along with a battalion chief, two captains and three people per engine — have been sent to Southern California. In total, 18 Cal Fire firefighters from Santa Cruz and Santa Clara counties are at the Palisades fire in Los Angeles. He added that seven local overhead people have been assigned, too, which include anything from supervisory positions to unit managers.
The Santa Cruz Fire Department announced on its socials Wednesday evening that it, too, is sending an engine with four personnel to fight the Eaton fire in the Altadena and Pasadena area in northeast Los Angeles. Teams from Watsonville, Scotts Valley and Central Fire have also headed to the Eaton fire. It has burned 10,590 acres as of 8 p.m. Wednesday.
Wilson, who remained in Santa Cruz, said he is meeting with the remaining staff to assess the current local fire threat level. He said the six engines available for local response and Cal Fire’s county stations — Corralitos, Burrell, Saratoga, Summit, Fall Creek and Big Creek — are staffed up.
“We currently have a low fire threat based on the fuel moisture,” he said, adding that crews have to keep an eye on the dry, windy weather that can bring unfavorable fire conditions. “We’re constantly monitoring that, and right now, I think we have adequate resources for the current potential that is calculated.”
Wilson said that the local firefighters currently in Los Angeles will likely be there for about two weeks, which is the typical amount of time firefighters are asked to spend helping to fight fires outside of the county. He said the maximum amount of time is usually 21 days.
“At 14 days, we will start seeking relief for those employees and rotate folks off. That’s for their health and wellness and being away from family,” he said.
Wilson said those firefighters are still facing a major challenge, including embers being pushed by 50 mph winds: “They are extreme conditions but they’re making sure they’re providing for the firefighters’ safety and doing all they can to protect citizens, life and property.”
And even if containing the blaze might be difficult with strong winds, Wilson said firefighters are doing more than just attacking the fire directly, such as opening evacuation routes and defending as many structures as possible: “You’re going to set objectives, and life is the first one.”
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