Back from line of fire

NEWPORT BEACH — Even with the deaths of five of their brothers fresh on their minds, the local firefighters who helped battle the Esperanza Fire in the San Jacinto Mountains say the losses don’t affect the way they approach the danger.

“It changes everything for our families, but it changes very little for us,” said Costa Mesa Battalion Chief Scott Broussard, who was sent to the arson fire with one Costa Mesa engine. “We know that is a possibility for us — we know that people will and do die … but our families have a totally different way they look at us.”

A day after the fifth firefighter succumbed to injuries from the massive wildfire, Newport and Costa Mesa firefighters talked Wednesday about the tools that can make the difference in them returning home to their families and the emotions that come with fighting a deadly fire.

On Sunday, 10 men from the fire departments returned from a three-day deployment to the blaze that rampaged through 40,200 acres and destroyed 34 homes. All the men returned unhurt but with thoughts of the five firefighters killed by the blaze.

A gig on the Orange County strike team provides valuable on-the-job training for firefighters, but back in their local firehouses, they practice using the tools that could save their lives.

Fire officials continue to investigate the deaths of the five men overrun by flames Oct. 26 as they were trying to protect a home near Beaumont.

The men probably did not have time to get into their safety gear, Newport Beach Fire Capt. Todd Knipp said. The four initial deaths made morning meetings much more somber, Broussard said.

An essential defense tool the 10 men carried into the Esperanza Fire was their fire shelters. A fire shelter is an aluminized fabric tent they can crawl into if flames threaten them and they don’t have time to make it to a safer area.

While at home, firefighters, captains and chiefs practice with a tarp-like replica. Firefighters must shake it out, step inside, cover their heads and lie flat on the ground while they make sure to cover any opening, a seemingly simple task. But when Santa Ana winds gust in the canyons and passes, it can prove difficult, Knipp said as he demonstrated how to use a fire shelter outside Station 3 in Newport Beach.

Once inside, Knipp said, a firefighter may need to remain face down on the ground for up to an hour.

“You have to stay calm, and the secret to staying calm is trusting the equipment, trusting your training and trusting your guys,” he said. “

Once inside, they must sometimes endure temperatures that could reach up to 700 degrees outside the tent and up to 200 inside. “It will be smoky and hot and you may come out with burns, but your chances for survival go way up,” Knipp said. “The reality is still getting out and walking away.”

Other tools used by Costa Mesa and Newport firefighters at the Esperanza Fire included wild-land shovels, pulaskis — a combination ax and shovel — and fusees, which are used to ignite a controlled fire to burn off brush and grass.

The Orange County strike team spent 24 hours protecting a ranger station and other structures, and when fire personnel from the California Department of Fire and Forestry had to take their mandatory break, it was up to the Newport-Mesa team, along with 12 others from Orange County, to finish laying 3,000 feet of water hose line down a canyon.

“This area had already been burned and had spot fires, so we extended the lines, putting out spot fires as we went along,” Broussard said.

They finished laying the line about midnight on Saturday, Broussard said, and they returned to their previous assignment. Everything went relatively smoothly, and no one else died. A deer was accidentally struck and killed when Broussard was driving the battalion wagon after they laid the hose, he said.

Because aircraft was knocking out the fire, Newport-Mesa firefighters were in a good position late Friday and into Saturday. They were on the top of a hill with the winds howling against the flames. They remained vigilant, however, Broussard said, because a wind shift — one was predicted for that night — could have changed strategy.

Early Saturday, the Orange County strike team members were relieved, and they returned to base camp.

A memorial for the five firefighters, who were part of the San Bernardino National Forest Engine 57, will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Hyundai Pavilion at Glen Helen Park in San Bernardino. Costa Mesa and Newport Beach will each send one engine to the service.

“Those guys died needlessly,” Broussard said. “There’s no empathy for the guy who did it, whoever it is, I have no empathy for his plight because he was not caring about anyone else.”

Riverside County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Raymond Lee Oyler, 36, Tuesday afternoon on suspicion of arson in connection with wildfires in June in the San Gorgonio Pass area and then characterized him as a “person of interest” in the Esperanza blaze.

In Costa Mesa, firefighters can put out anywhere from seven to 15 larger brush fires in the area, especially in the bluffs near Estancia High School, Broussard said. He said fire personnel will see roughly 100 total brush and grass fires throughout the year.

Newport Beach also has areas that could be susceptible to blazes in the Corona del Mar and Newport Coast areas, although they are rare. Both fire departments urge residents to follow safety guidelines about how to maintain vegetation around their homes, especially if they live near brush. It should be spaced farther apart nearer to homes to make firefighters’ work saving a home easier, Newport Beach Fire spokeswoman Jennifer Schulz said.