“Mopping out” fires in California
By CAITLIN LUKACS
Observer Staff
Reuters Photo. Firefighters battle fires in San Diego.
With wildfires raging in Southern California, firefighters from all over the West Coast were called in to combat the blazes.
Ryan Fitzsimmons, 22, of the USFS Lake Tahoe Management Unit, was sent to San Bernardino Oct. 22 to fight the Old Fire and Cedar Fire.
The firefighters keep a list in Lake Tahoe of all the fire engine crews, and they simply rotate through which crews get sent out and which crews stay in the area, Fitzsimmons said.
“My engine, number 44, just happened to be on the top of that list last week,” he said.
took engine 44 an entire day to reach San Bernardino. As soon as they arrived at Snow Valley, where firefighters are being housed, they were briefed on the tasks ahead of them and allowed to sleep for two hours.
“The whole town was gone when we got here,” Fitzsimmons said. “But there are at least 1,500 firefighters.”
The firemen have been working 16-hour days for two weeks, spraying out trees and stump holes, and pushing back the border of the fire.
“Every morning there’s a briefing and we are assigned to different divisions of the fire. We basically each pick up 150 pounds of hose and hike around all day making sure nothing is left smoldering,” he said.
Fitzsimmons called this process “mopping out.”
Besides spraying down the area, the firefighters are raking the dirt to keep fires from springing back up. Each day they are supposed to move the fire back at least 100 feet from the previous day’s perimeter line.
“It’s still not under control right now, but the wind has finally started to calm down,” Fitzsimmons said.
With no wind blowing, the firemen are able to work without masks. Instead, they wear hardhats to protect themselves from falling debris and line gear, which Fitzsimmons described as “an over-sized fanny pack with shoulder straps,” with fire department-issued pants and long sleeve shirts.
“The smoke and ash isn’t that bad anymore. It’s just like hanging out at a campfire – your eyes sting a little, but it’s not unbearable,” Fitzsimmons said.
