Local crews heading south

Firefighters from the South Valley headed to Southern California late this weekend and Monday to help battle wildfires that are burning across the region.

Porterville Fire Department Engineer Dan Holloway said, as of Monday morning, there were 11 new fires in Southern California, burning more than 90,000 acres.

The numerous fires burning in the south state continue to be pushed by high winds sustained at 30 to 40 mph, with gusts up to 90 mph, according to U.S. Forest Service spokesman Jason Kirchner in Vallejo. The high winds are expected to remain in the area through Tuesday and temperatures are expected to be 90 to 100 degrees in Southern California until the weather begins to change later in the week.

Additional fire-fighting resources are being brought into southern California from throughout the state and additional Incident Management Teams and an Area Command Team are being brought in from outside California to help manage the fires and prioritize resources between the fires.

Holloway said on Sunday, Porterville FireÂ’s Office of Emergency Services engine and four firefighters went down south and were currently near the border of Mexico in the San Diego area.

Over the weekend, the Tulare County Fire Department sent five engines and 22 of its firefighters to assist in extinguishing the fires in three strike teams, Division Chief Joe Garcia said.

Garcia said each strike team consists of five engines, with four firefighters with each engine.

“We have two engines and eight personnel joining three other engines from Fresno and Kern counties in the first strike team,” Garcia said. “In the second strike team, we have one engine with four personnel and they are joined by engines from Visalia, Tulare and Dinuba.

“In that strike team we have one of our battalion chiefs as the strike team leader and there’s an apprentice strike team leader — a Visalia Fire battalion chief.”

Garcia said Tulare County Fire has two engines and eight personnel with a third strike team.

“They are joined by engines from Visalia, Tulare and Farmersville,” Garcia said, “and that strike team is headed by one of our captains.”

Forest Service spokeswoman Margie Clack of the Forest Service office in Porterville said at least 125 Forest Service firefighters from the Sequoia National Forest traveled south Sunday and Monday to assist Southern California battle numerous wild land blazes.

Three 20-person hotshot crews and five fire engines from the Sequoia National Forest were dispatched Sunday to the Ranch Fire in Los Angeles County along with an air attack plane and a call-when-needed heavy lift helitanker, Clack said Monday in a prepared release.

As of Monday morning, the 29,000-acre Ranch fire on the Angeles National Forest is only 10-percent contained.

Clack said an additional 25 firefighters and five engines from the Sequoia National Forest, Sierra National Forest, Bureau of Land Management and Tule River Indian Reservation were traveling south Monday to assist the San Bernardino National Forest on a new fire that started early Monday morning.

The Grass Valley fire is located northwest of Lake Arrowhead. The communities of Deer Lake Lodge and Lake Arrowhead were currently being evacuated.

In addition to the Ranch and Grass Valley fires, firefighters in Southern California were battling the Buckweed Fire in Los Angeles County, which started early Sunday afternoon and as of late Monday morning had scorched approximately 10,000 acres.

Nancy Ward, regional administrator for FEMA Region IX, described the wildfire situation in California as “unprecedented.”

FEMA authorized use of federal funds to support fire-fighting efforts associated with both the Buckweed, Witch Creek and fires.

The Witch Creek Fire started arly Sunday afternoon and as of late Monday morning had burned approximately 5,000 acres and forced closure of a portion of Highway 78.

Contact The Recorder newsroom at 784-5000, Ext. 1044.