Windy forecast draws fire crews to California

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – Once upon a time, Justin Hardison could plan on a three-month firefighting season. It never crossed his mind that he might not spend Thanksgiving at home in Lolo, Mont.

But a few days ago, Hardison and firefighters Jeff Sabiol and Doug Knight got a call. Santa Ana winds were kicking up again in Southern California, and they were needed once again.

The three had fought the wildfires here a month ago.

They packed their gear and spent most of three days driving. They arrived Monday, not looking forward to a Thanksgiving spent on the oil-stained asphalt parking lot of the National Orange Showgrounds here.

Within miles was San Bernardino National Forest, one of the most urbanized U.S. forests.

Thanksgiving marked the latest point in the year that Hardison had been called out in his eight years as a part-time firefighter, and the trip meant his fire season will run six months.

“I can’t say if this is going to be the pattern,” said Hardison, who works for A-1 Fire Service, a private wildland firefighting company in Lolo, a suburb of Missoula. But “conditions are getting worse and worse. Things are getting hotter and drier.”

The guys from A-1 joined hundreds of others from across the Western United States who gave up their holiday to assemble to protect Southern California.

Despite early morning fog, forecasts called for low humidity and winds of 45 mph for today and Saturday.

So, stung by the raging wildfires of October, regional fire officials called in more firefighters and engines than they could confidently count Thursday, spreading them from San Diego to Ventura counties.

One big concentration was at the Orange Showgrounds.

Resembling a tribal assembly, more than 300 firefighters came from across the West, trim and rugged, many with sunglasses perched on baseball caps, their department names and insignia across blue T-shirts.

They threw around footballs and watched games on TV, played cards, and planned strategy in a language all their own.

They lined their 62 engines, six bulldozers and nine watertenders in formation across the parking lot in a mobilization that included food, cots, toilets, showers, a medical clinic, an auto shop, a chain-saw-sharpening shop, and television screens.

“It’s a mix between an Arabic bazaar, a county fair and a family reunion,” said Jim Wilkins, operations center spokesman.

Firefighters came in from Mount Lemmon and the Groom Creek Fire District in Arizona, from Upper Pine River, Colo., and from Fort Bragg and Oakdale in California. But the farthest-flung contingent was five engines from companies across Montana.

Urban firefighters are used to working at least one important holiday a year. But for many wildland firefighters, particularly in Montana, a Thanksgiving workday is a new experience.

However, Southern California has had little rain in two years. The region almost never goes out of fire season, Wilkins said.

Hardison and the rest had never been to California until the last year, during which they’ve come down three times.

Indeed, this gypsy life is increasingly how things are for wildland firefighters: going from fire to fire across the West in seasons that don’t promise to get shorter.

“It’s a lifestyle,” said Hardison. “It’s not for everybody. I couldn’t see a marriage surviving doing this, though I know there are guys who do it.”

Hardison’s daughter has a birthday on Dec. 1. “I’m really hoping I’ll be back. She’ll be 4.”