Los Alamitos acts as a strategic base for Southland wildfire aid

Four Los Alamitos-based Army Black Hawk helicopter crews flew through thick smoke and wind gusting at over 70 mph over the past week to drop water on the Thomas Fire in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.

Lt. Col. Aaron Schilleci, commander of the 1-140th assault helicopter battalion at Joint Forces Training Base Los Alamitos, said his soldiers have deployed to all of the California wildfires this year and the Thomas Fire is the most challenging. 1-140 AHB, nicknamed the Archangels, makes the 45-minute flight each morning to Camarillo Airport where each helicopter can make up to 75 water drops using hanging buckets.

“I’m really proud of them,” Schilleci said. “One of the tactics that the ground firefighters use is they’ll look and see where we’ve been dropping because they know it’s wet and safe.”

The Los Alamitos base is strategically significant for the Department of Defense and the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services because it’s the only active military airfield between Channel Islands Air National Guard Station in Ventura County and Marine Corps Air Station Camp Pendleton.

Col. Richard Lalor, public affairs officer for the base, said its dual missions are training guardsmen and army reservists, as well as supporting the state’s emergency services.

Cal OES and the California National Guard staged emergency supplies in Los Alamitos to support evacuation centers across Southern California.

Food, water, blankets and cots were trucked in to await requests from local and state emergency planners.

Spc. Jesse Lambert, left and Spc. Daniel Cooper work on a California National Guard UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter that assisted in fighting fires in Ventura County.

(Scott Smeltzer / Staff Photographer )

“Some of the material was stored here for that purpose and other material, because of the scale of the fires, is being brought in,” Lalor said.

More than 1 million N-95 masks were distributed from Los Alamitos to aid stations between San Luis Obispo and San Diego, said Mark Ackerman, staging area group supervisor for Cal OES.

“The success of the staging area is measured by how quickly it goes out of business,” Ackerman said.

So far, city and county governments have shown they’re highly capable of managing large wildfire evacuations, Ackerman said. Forty truckloads of food staged in Los Alamitos never left the base.

“There’s not a lot of people in shelters,” he said. “It means that people are taking care of themselves and each other. People drive down the freeway at 70 mph and don’t even look at each other. All of the sudden calamity befalls us and we’re friends again.”

As of this week, more than 1,600 California Guard members were mobilized to assist in the firefighting. On Dec. 7, the 129th Rescue Wing from Silicon Valley deployed about 25 airmen, including the Air Force’s equivalent of military police, and an MC-130 Combat Shadow aircraft to Los Alamitos and the areas affected by wildfires.

Lalor said he expects the wildfire-related operations in Los Alamitos to slow down by this weekend as firefighters contain blazes and evacuated people return home.

Schilleci said the Black Hawks will continue fighting the Thomas Fire until at least Dec. 20. On Thursday, the Thomas Fire was 30% contained with 242,500 acres burned, according to authorities.

Fuel trucks line the staging area at Joint Forces Training Base Los Alamitos.

(Scott Smeltzer / Staff Photographer )

Daniel Langhorne is a contributor to Times Community News.