H.B. crews help fight flames

As wildfires continue to rage throughout Southern California, Huntington Beach firefighters are in the thick of the action.

The city has been dispatching firefighters since Sunday morning, Battalion Chief Bob Brown said.

The first batch of rescue workers battled a conflagration in Malibu all day until it was mostly contained, then rushed south to Santiago Canyon near northeast Irvine to try to stop a raging fire said to be arson.

The first crew was relieved of duty Monday evening, Brown said.

“They probably haven’t slept in 40 hours,” Brown said Monday night. “We sent a relief crew about two hours ago.”

There were four engines — carrying 16 rescue workers — and a battalion chief leading a strike team at the Santiago blaze Wednesday, he added.

Usually, 41 fire suppression personnel are on duty at one time in the city, along with eight ambulance workers, according to city records. Brown said the department was extremely busy handling both the city and the wildfires at once, and that firefighters had been called in on off days.

As Southern California continues to burn because of dry conditions and gusting Santa Ana winds, tiny particles in the air from smoke and ash have reached unhealthy levels in coastal Orange County, according to the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

That means those with heart or lung disease, the elderly and children should not exert themselves outside, and everyone else should avoid doing so for too long. Schools around the city are keeping children inside for recess and lunch periods.

Inside, keep windows and doors closed, and use an air conditioner if you have one, the Environmental Protection Agency advises.

Avoid lighting candles, fireplaces or gas stoves indoors, and do not vacuum.

Brown said he wasn’t aware of any health emergency calls caused by the polluted air, but added that paramedics only received notification from the dispatch in life and death situations.

But humans aren’t the only ones finding it hard to breathe, said Debbie McGuire, wildlife director for the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center. The center is on standby to receive wildlife of all kinds that can be evacuated to Huntington Beach, she said.

Closer to home, pets and other animals are struggling to breathe, she said.

“It will affect them,” she said. “Just as it is hard for us to breathe, they do get upper respiratory problems.”

Pet owners should keep their animals indoors; if that’s a problem, they should find any boarding facility they can with open space left, said McGuire, who also manages an animal hospital in Costa Mesa.