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Review The Fire Siege began on Tuesday, Oct. 21, at 1201 with the start of the Roblar 2 Fire.

Blue Ribbon Fire Commission January 21, 2004 California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Jim Wright US Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region Fire and Aviation Management Ray Quintanar. Review The Fire Siege began on Tuesday, Oct. 21, at 1201 with the start of the Roblar 2 Fire.

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Review The Fire Siege began on Tuesday, Oct. 21, at 1201 with the start of the Roblar 2 Fire.

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  1. Blue Ribbon Fire CommissionJanuary 21, 2004California Department of Forestry and Fire ProtectionJim WrightUS Forest ServicePacific Southwest RegionFire and Aviation ManagementRay Quintanar Blue Ribbon Fire Commission January 21, 2004

  2. Review The Fire Siege began on Tuesday, Oct. 21, at 1201 with the start of the Roblar 2 Fire. Review of conditions and events occurring throughout the state prior to the start of the Cedar Fire on Oct. 25 Blue Ribbon Fire Commission January 21, 2004

  3. Happy Piru Verdale Simi Old Grand Prix Pass Roblar 2 Cedar Southern California SituationOctober 21-25, 2003 Oct 21 1201 Roblar 2 Fire 1359 Grand Prix Fire 1611 Pass Fire Oct 23 1330 Piru Fire Oct 24 1307 Verdale Fire 1505 Happy Fire Two fires in northern Calif. Oct 25 0917 Old Fire 1450 Simi Fire Blue Ribbon Fire Commission January 21, 2004

  4. Conditions Weather • Southern California is experiencing Santa Ana winds (20 to 30 mph) with gusts up to 45 mph over most fire areas with very low humidity and above normal temperature; conditions expected to continue through Monday, October 27. • Northern California has moderate to strong northeast winds with low humidity with expectations of more intense winds Blue Ribbon Fire Commission January 21, 2004

  5. Conditions Fuels • Long-term drought exacerbated high fire potential • Widespread brush & timber • Widespread critically dry live fuels = dead fuel fire behavior • Record-low dead fuel moistures Blue Ribbon Fire Commission January 21, 2004

  6. Fuels Much of the area surrounding the Cedar Fire had not burned since 1970. Blue Ribbon Fire Commission January 21, 2004

  7. Other Fire Situations • Verdale Fire reporting spotting 1/2 to 1 mile ahead of the main fire, and the consumption of 2,000 to 3,000 acres per hour. • Thousands of people being evacuated on Verdale, Old and Grand Prix Fires • Old Fire grounded all aircraft due to high winds Blue Ribbon Fire Commission January 21, 2004

  8. Special Staffing - CDF • All days off cancelled for all firefighting personnel • Local CWN copter in San Diego • All crews staffed 24 hours statewide • Camp and Reserve engines at 3-0 staffing • LA county staging a 5 engine Strike Team at Santa Clarita • Orange county staffing second helicopter and a 5 engine Strike Team • Ventura county staffing 3 engines and 1 watertender • 8 California National Guard helicopters requested • CDF Command Team 1 on standby Blue Ribbon Fire Commission January 21, 2004

  9. Special Staffing - USFS • 4 air tankers • 2 smokejumber aircraft • 3 Type 1 Helicopters • 2 Helicopters and 6 Type 2 Helitack Crews • 1 Type 3 Helicopter and 1 Type 3 Helitack Crew • 12 Type 1 Handcrews • 24 Type 2 Handcrews • 85 Type 3 Engines and 7-day staffing on an additional 5 Type 3 Engines • 14 Water Tenders • 6 Bulldozers • Preposition two Type 1 incident management teams Blue Ribbon Fire Commission January 21, 2004

  10. Other Committments OES • 75 Engines • 2 Watertenders Local Government • 350 engines Blue Ribbon Fire Commission January 21, 2004

  11. Cedar Fire Blue Ribbon Fire Commission January 21, 2004

  12. Cedar Fire Saturday, October 25 1735 Monte Vista ECC receives 9-1-1 call reporting a fire in Cedar Creek area 1737 hrs the first responders leave their station CNF Division 3, CNF Battalion 33, 10 engines, 1 handcrew, 2 water tenders 1740 CDF dispatches additional resources 2 CDF Battalion Chiefs 5 engines, 2 handcrews, 1 dozer By 1745, six more reports of fire • Leads to confusion as to the location of the fire and its size Blue Ribbon Fire Commission January 21, 2004

  13. Cedar Fire Saturday, October 25 Initial entry was difficult: • roadless area • rugged terrain • exact location of the fire unknown • brush 10 - 20 ft tall, fire could not be easily seen from the ground • it was pitch black at this time NORTH Blue Ribbon Fire Commission January 21, 2004

  14. Battalion 33 CDF Battalion Chief CNF Engine 33

  15. Cedar FireFIREFIGHTER SAFETY Firefighter safety is paramount at this very critical stage as pieces of the puzzle are put together as to fire behavior, size, location… Inaja Fire in 1957 – eleven firefighters lost their lives Blue Ribbon Fire Commission January 21, 2004

  16. Cedar Fire Saturday, October 25 • At 2250 hrs fire spread to the north and crossed Eagle Peak Road and dozer requested • At the same time the fire spread 1.6 miles westerly to San Diego River (2330-due to Santa Ana winds) • Resources are moved to San Diego Country Estates (~10,000 residents) Blue Ribbon Fire Commission January 21, 2004

  17. Cedar Fire Saturday, October 25 • Surfacing Santa Ana winds changed priorities • At 2244 hrs it is realized that trying to flank the fire would not work - there are many homes and life in front of the fire in the direction the fire is now headed Blue Ribbon Fire Commission January 21, 2004

  18. Cedar Fire Saturday, October 25 • The potential rate of spread was underestimated • Although the fire continued spreading rapidly, unprecedented rate of spread was experienced • The fire had a major run of 30 miles in 16.5 hours (5000 acres per hour ) Blue Ribbon Fire Commission January 21, 2004

  19. Cedar Fire Saturday, October 25 • At 2356 hours, the fire moved off of the Cleveland National Forest and into state jurisdiction wildland responsibility. • Unified Command was established Blue Ribbon Fire Commission January 21, 2004

  20. Cedar FireSunday, October 26 At 0300, incident is reporting winds out of the east between 30 -45 mph with gusts up to 75 mph, 63 degrees, and 10% relative humidity It is believed that a majority of the civilian fatalities occurred between 0300 and 0700. Blue Ribbon Fire Commission January 21, 2004

  21. Cedar Fire Sunday, October 26 • Since the 1970 Laguna Fire, more than 9,000 homes have been built within the Cedar fire area Blue Ribbon Fire Commission January 21, 2004

  22. Cedar Fire Monday, October 27 • Extreme fire behavior with over 200ft flame • Fire generates thermal convection, creating its own weather resulting in fire moving in multiple directions at the same time Blue Ribbon Fire Commission January 21, 2004

  23. Cedar Fire Tuesday, October 28 • Transitional winds -with stronger onshore winds at 4-8mph • Fire burns additional 114,000 acres • Extremely low humidity and high temperatures, hamper firefighting efforts • FS IMT was transitioned to take Cedar East Blue Ribbon Fire Commission January 21, 2004

  24. Cedar Fire Wednesday, October 29 • Continued extreme fire behavior - 200 ft-flame lengths and spotting over major roads • Fire entered the community of Julian • 1230 Engineer Steven Rucker killed as he and three crew members were overrun by the fire • 1810 humidity increased to 80% Blue Ribbon Fire Commission January 21, 2004

  25. Cedar Fire October 30 – Nov 4 • Air remained saturated with measurable rain falling on Nov. 1st • Maximum number of engines committed is 722 during this period • Cedar Fire is contained on November 4th at 273,246 acres Blue Ribbon Fire Commission January 21, 2004

  26. AFTER THE CEDAR FIRE STARTS • San Diego has 3 new fires within 16 hours of the Cedar • Paradise Fire starts at 0130 near the community of Valley Center • Otay/Mine Fire starts at 0718 near the city of Otay • Mountain fire starts at 1145 near the community of Sage • Meanwhile Northern California has 5 new fires. • On Oct 27, Northern California has 4 more fires (including San Luis Obispo) with another fire on the 28th and two more fires on the 29th. Blue Ribbon Fire Commission January 21, 2004

  27. Southern California Fire Siege Final Statistics • Acres:739,597 • Structures destroyed: • 3,631 residential • 1,169 outbuildings • 36 commercial • 22 fatalities (1 firefighter) • 246 injuries Blue Ribbon Fire Commission January 21, 2004

  28. State and Federal Aviation Resources As of Thursday Oct 30 A total 208 air resources were committed within the state from the military, federal, state, and contractors (including 104 fixed-wing and 90 helicopters) Several instances where aircraft was grounded due to turbulence and visibility Old Fire -fixed wing aircraft and helicopters grounded due to high winds; in excess of 35 mph Cedar Fire- two CA MAFFS unable to fly due to wind and smoke Cedar Fire - six federal air tankers grounded - windshield damage from flying debris in smoke columns Blue Ribbon Fire Commission January 21, 2004

  29. Cedar Fire State and Federal Aviation Resources Oct 26 Blue Ribbon Fire Commission January 21, 2004

  30. Cedar Fire State and Federal Aviation Resources Oct 27 Blue Ribbon Fire Commission January 21, 2004

  31. CDF - Recommendations Blue Ribbon Fire Commission January 21, 2004

  32. Recommendations • Distribution of public funds to include the delivery of fire service • Staff CDF fire personnel up to 12 months • Fund CDF programs to ensure depth of human resources to support firefighting operations Blue Ribbon Fire Commission January 21, 2004

  33. Recommendations • Acquire improved initial attack CDF helicopters • CDF aircraft equipped with satellite tracking and integrated with statewide dispatch • Increase use of IR technologies for timely information Blue Ribbon Fire Commission January 21, 2004

  34. Recommendations • Strengthen integration of National Guard aircraft from other states into California fire activities Blue Ribbon Fire Commission January 21, 2004

  35. USFS - Recommendations Blue Ribbon Fire Commission January 21, 2004

  36. Recommendations • Redefine trigger points under extreme conditions • Improve fire prediction models and services associated with wind events • Invest in 24/7 “eyes in the sky” and integrate existing technologies for dispatching and managing resources • Additional training for fighting fire in the urban interface environment Blue Ribbon Fire Commission January 21, 2004

  37. Recommendations • Each engine and Chief officer vehicle needs GPS units to know their exact location • Each engine needs the capability to foam homes to protect them • Each engine crew and Chief officer must have the capability to communicate effectively across band frequencies Blue Ribbon Fire Commission January 21, 2004

  38. Recommendations • Need commitment to fund additional training and equipment and to support improved interactions between the public and emergency services. Blue Ribbon Fire Commission January 21, 2004

  39. Recommendations • If we are to survive and continue living in a fire prone environment – we must all work together and form effective working teams among communities and emergency services as never before. This will happen again… Blue Ribbon Fire Commission January 21, 2004

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