After O.C. firefighters injured in crash, other Southern California counties send crews to help out

Two Southern California counties are sending firefighting crews to Orange County after eight firefighters there were injured in a crash along State Route 241, most of them remaining hospitalized.

About three dozen firefighters from Ventura and Santa Barbara counties will be going down to Orange County to help battle the Airport Fire, the destructive blaze that's destroyed homes and injured several people as it burned through Orange and Riverside counties. The O.C. firefighters were coming back from a 12-hour shift fighting the wildfire when the crash happened Thursday night.

The fire truck had swerved to avoid a ladder in the middle of the freeway and then collided into a guardrail and rolled over, according to California Highway Patrol. One of the firefighters was airlifted and the rest were rushed to nearby trauma centers by ambulance.

On Friday morning, six of them were still hospitalized, OCFA Chief Brian Hennessey said, two of them in critical condition. "Many of the injured are going to be hospitalized for quite a while," he said.  

Overnight, as the wounded firefighters were treated, Hennessey met with their families and spoke with their fellow firefighters.

"As I talked with the crews last night, it was evident they're in tough shape right now," he said. "We pulled them off the fire line. They're going to get time with family. They're going to get time to visit with other firefighters. They're gonna get the time they need."

All of the men injured in the crash are members of the Orange County Fire Authority's Santiago Handcrew, which has a total of 20 firefighters who typically face 10-hour days but can sometimes work 24-hour shifts. They are tasked with clearing highly flammable shrubbery and other terrain that spark and fuel wildfires, hiking into "extremely steep, extremely inaccessible terrain" that even machinery like bulldozers can't get to, Fennessey said. "It's extremely arduous work," he said.

Now, the Ventura County Fire Department and Santa Barbara County Fire Department are sending down their own handcrews.

"I want to thank the Ventura County and Santa Barbara County fire departments who have moved their handcrews into Orange County to cover for our handcrews that are not in service at this time," Fennessey said Friday.

Scott Safechuck, spokesman for the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, said his agency will be sending a crew of about 16 members and the Ventura County Fire Department will be dispatching a crew of about 20.

According to Fennessey, the Santiago Handcrew has been assigned to the Airport Fire since it broke out on Sept. 9. The wildfire is one of three massive blazes that have ripped through four Southern California counties this month, sending thousands of people fleeing from their homes and altogether scorching more than 100,000 acres in less than a week.

Fifteen people, including 13 firefighters, have been injured in the Airport Fire which left behind a path of destruction as it burned more than 80 homes to the ground. 

But firefighters have made significant progress in recent days with the wildfire now more than 50% contained, a major gain which handcrews have played a crucial role in accomplishing. They work through rugged terrain to construct and secure a fireline, which stops the blaze from spreading any further as it's a perimenter which flames cannot reach past. OCFA has two handcrews.

Fennessey said members of these crews "tend to be younger in age, extremely physically fit and very well-trained."

"You're not going to see somebody my age, probably, on a handcrew," the fire chief said. "It's a job that requires the crew to be extremely physically fit. They're exposed to extraordinary temperatures, conditions. They train very, very hard." 

With wildfires having burned more than 995,000 acres so far this year, Fennessey said the Santiago Handcrew firefighters have been working hard as they also respond to areas outside of Orange County.

"We're very proud of them and they've been busy all year long — up and down the state of California," he said.

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To help the injured firefighters in Orange County, visit the OC Professional Firefighters Association website.