The wildfires raging in California are giving one local fire official some flashbacks.
Marysville Fire Chief Jay Riley assisted last year in Idaho with the myriad wildfires that plagued the American West. In an interview this week, he spoke about his time fighting those fires, and what crews in Northern California now are experiencing.
According to Riley, California is experiencing its largest wild and field fires ever. Riley said they encompass about 480 square miles, which is “a little bit bigger than all of Union County.”
“It’s amazing that they’re that big,” Riley said.
Earlier this week, California officials said the blaze had been half contained, though it would still take “several weeks” to fully surround the fire, according to the Associated Press.
Riley reflected on his time out west last year to give some insight as to what firefighters in California are going through. He said they’re likely waking up early, about 5 a.m., eat breakfast as a crew and then head out to the fire line at about 6 a.m.
At the fire line, crews work to make a barrier of dirt. He said vegetation needs to be removed to make sure there’s nothing that can catch fire.
“You are just digging dirt, cutting down trees, moving brush away from the fire line,” Riley said.
That barrier would “go on for miles.”
Crews would work from then until about 8 p.m. They’d then head back to camp, eat dinner and hopefully get to sleep by 10 p.m. The next day, they’d do it again.
According to Riley, California is experiencing a dry year. The situation is also complicated because two years ago, California had considerable rain come through. Those rains made vegetation grow more quickly, providing more fuel for future fires.
“Now that it’s dried out, now the fires are back to being big again,” Riley said.
The techniques being used to fight these fires are the same, but Riley said there are more people helping. Riley said the last he heard, there were around 14,000 firefighters battling the blaze. Riley said firefighters from as far away as Australia and New Zealand are lending a hand.
The largest fire, in Modesto, is putting 11,000 homes in jeopardy. Other than that, the fire is in unincorporated areas. It hasn’t burnt as many homes as last year’s flames.
“They’re really hurting for people,” Riley said. “I know they’re mobilizing some military resources to come in.”
National firefighters are also spread thin. Riley said California isn’t the only place wildfires are being fought.
“I’ve got friends who are actually out in Oregon fighting wildfires,” Riley said. “You don’t even hear about those because the ones in California are so big.”
Riley said there are fires around Crater Lake right now.
“They’ve got some wildfires there in the forest, around the Sierra Nevada Mountains there,” Riley said.
These types of fires are getting more frequent, Riley said.
“They used to be just summer events,” he said. “With the drought and the lack of water out west, it’s become a year-round thing. And it’s almost become their norm.”
He said some crews out west are “moving convoys … going from fire to fire.”
For his part, Riley said the city is reluctant to let him go out west again.
“The city really doesn’t want me to be gone that long,” Riley said. “I’m here, because it’s a three-week deployment.”
However, if the opportunity ever presented itself and he got permission from the city, he said he’d be happy to go on.
“I really enjoyed trying to give back,” he said. “People are losing their lives … if you can help protect that, it says a lot about our character.”