O.C. Firefighters Muster Quick, Massive Attack

By LISA RICHARDSON and HOPE HAMASHIGE

Oct. 22, 1996 12 AM PT

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

LEMON HEIGHTS — As the first flames shot skyward here Monday morning, the odds seemed to be very much against the firefighters who answered the early alarms.

High, dry winds were blowing smoke and sparks across wood-shingle rooftops of hillside homes built close together, a situation with all the ingredients for an epic firestorm.

But a quick response by fire companies across Orange and Los Angeles counties put more than 150 firefighters and 90 fire engines on the scene within an hour of the 9 a.m. call, enabling quick containment of the blaze.

Assistant Chief Chip Prather of the Orange County Fire Authority said the goal was to have five engines at each burning house, a feat accomplished within an hour and a half.

Through the morning, more fire engines rolled in, coming in convoys from as far away as Glendale, Montebello and Vernon to convene in a Ralphs supermarket parking lot in Tustin.

Because of the rapid response, some of the firefighters, who eventually totaled 250, were not all dispatched to the blaze. Later arrivals spent the morning leaning against their trucks and waiting impatiently.

“I want to go to work--it’s what we do,” said Neal Welland, battalion chief of the Santa Fe Springs Fire Department. Pointing to his crew, he added, “These guys are all pumped up. They’re really ready to go.”

Experience with past fires also helped clear the way for Monday’s smooth operation. A helicopter that the Fire Authority bought after the 1993 Laguna Beach blaze was in the air shortly after the first ground teams went out.

The helicopter scan showed the strategy commanders where trucks should be deployed ahead of the blaze. It also revealed which homes had highly flammable wooden shingles.

By noon, Orange County fire departments, the first on the scene, had contained the blaze.

Officials of the Orange County Fire Authority said firefighters had been on the alert from early morning after weather forecasters predicted that Monday would bring optimum wildfire conditions: low humidity, warm temperatures and strong Santa Ana winds.

“Given those conditions and the fact that we’re in the middle of our fire season, we were ready for something like this,” Prather said.

The countywide practice of asking off-duty firefighters to be on call in their neighborhoods also helped get a maximum force on the scene in minimum time.

Jeff Johnson, who works for the El Toro Fire Department but volunteers at O.C. Fire Station No. 21--the strategy headquarters for the Tustin fire--was one of the first to arrive at burning homes on Afton Lane.

“It could have been a lot worse,” Johnson said. “Considering the conditions, everything worked out pretty well.”