Firefighters from Stratmoor Hills Fire District are in Southern California helping with the wildfires
STRATMOOR HILLS, Colo. (KRDO) - One firefighter from El Paso County took the initiative to create a crew and head west to help out the firefighters who are fighting the wildfires in Southern California.
They help with the Eaton Fire, which as of right now is at 10,600 acres, with zero-percent containment, and has resulted in at least four injured firefighters.
John Ortiz is with the Stratmoor Hills Fire District and says he knew he needed to act quickly when he saw the wildfires in Southern California. So he went to his fire Chief Shawn Bittle.
"He said, I really think we should go ahead and roster 418, our type three wildland-urban interface engine, for possible deployment. I said absolutely. You got the green light," said Bittle.
Ortiz said he was glad they got a fast approval.
"Sometimes when we make ourselves available, sometimes it's a couple of days before we get, a resource order. This was within a couple hours," said Ortiz.
The team took with them and engine three. The fire chief went into detail and told KRDO13 why this type of engine would help the firefighters when they got to Southern California.
"That truck is designed its four-wheel drive. It's pump and roll. So they can drive the fire truck and pump water at the same time. And it's it's built to be able to handle that rough terrain," said Bittle.
The team will help out with the Eaton Fire but first, they'll check in at the incident command post that's located at the Rose Bowl before they can head out.
"We'll start cloning radios. We'll start getting the frequencies, we'll start getting maps. We'll start getting a better understanding of the assignment," said Ortiz. "It is most definitely our privilege and our honor to come out here to California and help out with that."
The fire crew will be in Southern California for 21 days. But if they do need to stay there a little bit longer, the engine will stay. And then the four firefighters will return to Colorado. And then another four will rotate out to go back to Southern California.
