Local firefighters chip in

Deepa Bharath

Firefighters from both cities are responding to a rash of wildfires

that ignited several parts of Southern California over the weekend.

Newport Beach has sent out 14 people, including 12 firefighters

and two battalion chiefs while Costa Mesa has sent out eight

firefighters in two engines so far, officials said on Monday.

The fires are still burning, fueled by acres of dry brush and

fanned by the capricious Santa Ana winds. Southern California’s

fiercest outbreak of fires in more than a decade has leveled at least

1,100 homes, killed at least 13 people and has charred more than

400,000 acres -- from the Mexican border to the suburbs northeast of

Los Angeles.

Newport Beach’s three engines were sent to San Bernardino, Upland

and Simi Valley, said Donna Boston, a spokeswoman for the Fire

Department.

“But they may be redeployed to another place depending on the

need,” she said.

Costa Mesa’s two engines are working the fires that have been

blazing through Simi Valley and the Inland Empire, said department

spokeswoman Barbara Marcosa.

“It doesn’t look like we’ll send out more,” she said. “But the way

things are going, that’s a possibility.”

Newport Beach will most likely not send any more firefighters,

Boston said.

“Every one of the stations in our city is fully staffed and we

intend to keep it that way,” she said. “While we think it’s important

to assist other agencies in times of need, we also need to keep our

city’s needs in mind and make sure we’re prepared to protect our

residents.”

The state pays the cities that send out teams to help fight the

fires, Boston said. But that is just one of several advantages to

sending “strike teams” to other areas, she said.

“We get very valuable experience,” Boston said.

The city’s newly annexed area of Newport Coast presents a constant

threat in terms of a wildfire, and participating in such situations

will give firefighters the necessary hands-on training, she said.

“They also get a sense of what it is like to work with other

agencies,” she said. “We can simulate all we want for training, but

it doesn’t even come close to the real thing.”

* DEEPA BHARATH covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at [email protected].