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| Nearly 400 California Army National Guard Soldiers from the Southern California 578th Brigade Engineer Battalion are called up, Aug. 2, 2016, to be trained by CAL FIRE as Type II hand crews to fight wildfires in the state. The majority of the troops have served on a fire line before but this is the first time in almost a decade that the hand crews are the main support over the aviation assets. While at Camp Roberts the Soldiers are trained on use of the tools of the trade, the shovel, the McLeod, the Pulaski, hoses, fire shelter, line cutting and more. A lesson learned from previous years are fire boots are broken in right away. Once certified teams will be transported to the Soberanes Fire near the Monterey Pennisula for up to 19 days. CAL FIRE will continue to work on putting the fire out but these men and women ranging in skill sets from a cook, a mechanic, a IT communication specialist, to a combat engineer will be used to mop up hot spots, lay miles of water hoses and clear fire breaks. Last year more than 1000 Soldiers were called up. They worked on 14 fires and cleared more than 75,000 miles of terrain. (U.S. Army National Guard photo/Master Sgt. Paul Wade) |
08.01.2016
Story by Capt. Will Martin
California National Guard
For the soldiers of Task Force 578, drawn primarily from Southern California’s 578th Brigade Engineer Battalion and 40th Brigade Support Battalion, the call to mobilize came quickly, a reminder that readiness is central to guardsmen’s duty.
“I received the call Thursday evening around 1800,” said Sgt. Michael Griffin, who had just returned from a day of construction work near San Diego when he learned he’d be joining the rest of Task Force 578 the following morning. Rather than frustrated, though, Griffin was anxious to get on the fire lines.
“I anticipate a little more action because we have the saw teams now, so we’re going to be a little more busy,” said Griffin, who worked on Cal Guard hand crews last summer. “I’d say half the people here have experience, now, so they’re going to use us a lot more.”
Task Force 578 arrived at Camp Roberts Aug. 1 to conduct three days of Cal Fire training before deploying Aug. 4 as three teams to the Soberanes Fire near Big Sur. Each crew, or “line” in the team is led by 2-3 Cal Fire firefighters, armed with chainsaws and decades of firefighting experience.
“They decided to assign saw teams to these hand crews so that we can put in a little more productive line, which is why we have two firefighters with every line,” said Kyle Lunsford, a Cal Fire firefighter out of Mendocino County.
The Guard, said Lunsford, is fundamental to Cal Fire’s effort to keep California’s wildfires in check.
“It’s a big thing, especially when Cal Fire is spread throughout the state,” said Lungsford. “We run out of resources pretty quick. … It makes it a whole lot easier to be able to have these giant crews ready to roll and put in line.”
Armed with shovels, axes, and McLoed tools, Cal Guard hand crews work to create “fire breaks” — gaps in vegetation that act as barriers to slow or stop the progress of a fire — and to mop up hot spots and small blazes that remain after a large fire has passed through an area.
In 2015, more than 1,000 Cal Guard hand crew soldiers worked 14 fires and cleared more than 75,000 miles of terrain.
"Wildfires are at the heart of the Cal Guard emergency-response mission, which is why we train so closely with CAL FIRE throughout the year," said Maj. Gen. David S. Baldwin, adjutant general of the California National Guard. "Whether it's our hand crews on the ground or our aircraft above, we're fully equipped and trained to support our civilian partner agencies throughout the wildfire season."
