‘We have been throwing everything in our toolbox at this to try and put it to bed’

Chief Chris Fogle of the U.S. Forest Service, who has been serving as incident commander with Team 11 for the Line Fire, gave comprehensive reports at both the Crest Forest and Lake Arrowhead Municipal Advisory Council meetings on Oct. 1 and Oct. 3.

Prior to his reports, 3^rd District Supervisor Dawn Rowe spoke to the community online. “I want to thank the entire community for their resiliency as they continue to go through the Line Fire,” she said. She acknowledged all the first responders for their “tremendous effort.”

Rowe added she knows there is frustration over SR-330 being closed. “Caltrans is doing a Herculean effort,” she noted. “They are working nonstop to get it done, to expedite its reopening.” The first responders are using the 330 for access to the mountain.

Incident Commander Chris Fogle points to areas on the map where the Line Fire is still active.

On Oct. 1 Fogle said the fire was “looking pretty good today.” And on Oct. 3 he noted that there was “very little wide open uncontained line.” But, he warned, “that doesn’t mean it’s over. We still have several days of hard work to put in, mopping up, securing the area, making sure the fire doesn’t come out again.”

The little rain event that took place on the mountain allowed the fire to moderate a bit, Fogle said. But, since then, there was a period of warmer temperatures with drier air that heated up the atmosphere and dried up the soils.

Fogle reported on the progress crews were making in the Bear and Siberia Creek areas. Helicopters had been dropping a lot of water there and a hot shot crew hiked in from the bottom to cut out a helispot.

He had praise for the U.S. Forest Service and the fuel break they had created several years ago at Bluff Mesa. “That was key to our holding the fire,” Fogle said. There were little to no ground fuels and the trees had been thinned. “When we dropped retardant and water there,” he said, “it allowed for more penetration into the ground.”

In addition, he noted, this past spring the Forest Service went in below Angeles Oaks and conducted a prescribed burn that the Line Fire ran into. “We used it as a holding feature and strengthened it with a defensive fire,” Fogle said.

And, when the fire “stood back up,” he added, “we had a rapid response from our cooperators. We have had plenty of fire departments with a lot of toys” on the fire.

Fogle was thankful that, despite it having been a busy fire season across the state, “a lot have moderated.” Without a lot of other big incidents going on, more equipment was available.

“We have been throwing everything in our toolbox at this to try and put it to bed.”

When asked when he expected full containment, Fogle said for 100 percent they were probably two to three weeks out. “We want to make sure it’s out. There’s a lot of heavy timber on the ground that can hold heat a long time.”

Fogle acknowledged his fellow incident commanders, Chief Tony Jones of Cal Fire and Chief Dan Munsey of San Bernardino County Fire.

Lake Arrowhead MAC members Jenny Hueter, Michelle Ambrozic, James Grant and Steve Valentine listened as first responders updated them on the Line Fire.

Representatives from the first responders spoke at both MAC meetings.

County Fire: “We have had a busy month,” said Battalion Chief Jeremy Grundy in somewhat of an understatement. “I am proud of our team, making sure we could cover all our duties.” In addition to the personnel assigned to the Line Fire, other personnel remained at the stations to cover medical aid, respond to traffic accidents and respond to structure fires.

“Fire season is not over,” Chief Grundy said. “We still have grasses that are dry, still have potential. Make sure your homes are hardened.” He referred residents to www.sbcfire.org to get safety tips on being ready for fire and flood.

Members of the Crest Forest MAC – Kyle Schulty, Gil Flores, Steve Garcia, Penny Shubnell and Rick Dinon – were updated on the Line Fire at their Oct. 1 meeting.

Cal Fire: “It’s good to be home,” said Battalion Chief Brett Taylor. “I’m glad you are able to be home.” He noted they are not distracted by the Line Fire – “We haven’t taken our eye off the ball in Lake Arrowhead or Crestline. When we send resources out to incidents, we call in resources to cover our stations here. We take a lot of measures to make sure we meet our obligations to you.”

Chief Taylor pointed to one cooperator whose contribution has been “incredibly understated” – the citizens in the areas who were impacted the most. “On a lot of fires, I have seen them not evacuate well. In Running Springs, it was a pink ghost town. It meant the world to us – we could deploy our engines safely, insert crews safely. The roads were wide open to us. Having the mountain available to us, people heeding the evacuation order was enormous. The citizens deserve a round of applause. In a tangible way, they helped to manage the incident.

“Defensible space is huge,” the chief emphasized. “I think about what I would like done if the fire department couldn’t protect my house. I have never seen so many fire engines – engines from everywhere. But we still couldn’t put an engine at every house. We have to triage, prioritize, do the most good for the greatest number of people.”

Chief Taylor showed a photo of SR-330, which he called devastated. “There’s not a guardrail or a sign, you can’t see the striping. Be prepared for there to be impacts on 330 after the fire. This will take years to recover.”

When asked if the use of bulldozers to create fire breaks was effective as a tool, Chief Taylor said that was the understatement of the year. “I have never seen so much dozer line in my life.” He noted there is not a ridge left on SR-38 that doesn’t have a dozer line.

U.S. Forest Service: Battalion Chief Brian Grant followed up on the dozer question, saying they have identified certain dozer lines they want to maintain. He noted there have been seven other fires on the mountain in the past month, most from lightning strikes. 

San Bernardino County Sheriff: “I’m super proud of my folks and very proud of the communities for helping us out,” said Captain Craig Harris. He referenced the human remains that were found by SR-330. It has been determined they were there well before the Line Fire but they have not yet been identified. “We hope there is enough DNA to identify the person,” he said, adding that testing can take several months.

CHP: Lt. Nicholas King also addressed the damage done to SR-330. There are four miles, he said, where the guardrails are sitting on the ground. “The wood posts look like burned matchsticks. A lot of the signage is burned and on the ground. The paint markings have burned off.”

He goes to the incident command post – set up at Snow Valley – every day. “It’s fascinating to watch them do what they do – it’s a symphony of expertise and machinery.”

The lieutenant announced that these would be his last MAC meetings as he has been promoted to captain and will be reassigned to Monterey.

Update from Caltrans 

Horace Corey, the legislative liaison for Caltrans District 8, reported that the agency had been granted $9,800,000 for emergency repairs over six miles on SR-330. “The engineers deemed it to be unsafe,” he said. The contractor started work on Sept. 23. Six additional crews joined the effort.

Because of the fire’s flare up, Caltrans temporarily stopped all work on SR-138 and SR-189. They will be doing culvert and bridge repairs on SR-18 this fall, after the Line Fire is out, Corey said.