County firefighters return from Humboldt fire

More than a dozen Colusa and Glenn County firefighters spent one week braving the heat and rugged terrain as they worked to contain the Humboldt fire in Butte County.

Colusa City Fire Chief Randy Dunn said one of two strike teams sent to battle the wildfire when it broke out last Wednesday remain at the scene of the destruction.

The first local strike team dispatched consisted of fire engines and firefighters from Colusa and Glenn counties, including one engine each from Williams, Maxwell, Sacramento Fire Protection District, Hamilton City and Kanawha.

Sacramento Fire Chief Jeff Winters is serving as the strike team commander, Dunn said.

The second strike team consisted of fire engines and firefighters form Colusa City Fire, Kanawha, Susanville, Williams and Chester.

Dunn said 18 firefighters on the two teams were on the front lines, working 48-hour shifts with little or no rest as they built fire lines and battled to save home after home in a blaze that coursed through 23,344 acres of forest, brush and dry grass.

“They’re pretty tired,” Dunn said. “It’s exhausting work.”

Dunn said two engines from Colusa Fire and its firefighters returned late Tuesday.

“Our firefighters are safe and uninjured,” Dunn said. “Most of them are volunteers, so they will probably rest or go back to work. They won’t have to go out again until we get another request for mutual aid.”

That, of course, could be sooner than expected. Conditions are dry and humidity is high, Dunn said, which makes the landscape ripe for wildland fires.

“Humidity isn’t as low as we would like it to be,” Dunn said. “That combined with the wind makes for a volatile situation.”

Dunn encourages the public to use common sense and extra caution during the fire season.

“People should be aware that just tossing a cigarette could be the cause of a major fire,” he said.

The Humboldt fire devastated much of the area south of the town of Paradise, including Butte Valley and Butte Creek Canyon. Flames engulfed two of the three escape routes out of Paradise - and the third was threatened as well. Firefighters ordered the evacuation of more than a third of the 26,000 residents, including a large number of elderly people.

During the fire, Glenn Medical Center, in Willows, shifted 20 portable hospital beds and 46 cots from its cache of emergency disaster supplies to an American Red Cross shelter at Pleasant Valley High School.

Glenn County Heath Services staff, including deputy director Grinnell Norton, administrative assistant Susan Thurman and emergency preparedness coordinator Nip Boyes assisted Glenn County Deputy John Trammel in delivering the beds, which were requested by the Governor’s office of emergency services.

Norton said at least 70 Paradise residents evacuated to the high school had special needs or were elderly with medical problems.

The Humboldt fire destroyed 74 homes, and damaged 20 others before it was brought under full containment just after 6 p.m. on Monday.

Only 1,000 firefighters remain for mop up, including Winters’ crew of Colusa and Glenn County firefighters. The strike team is expected back Wednesday, Dunn said.

Susan Meeker can be reached at 934-6800 or smeeker@tcnpress.com.