“I’ve never seen the utter devastation and destruction I saw around Santa Rosa and Napa,” said Barry Lloyd, helicopter program manager for Cal Fire (California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection). “It was absolutely stunning.” This is coming from someone who has been a helicopter pilot for 52 years and fighting fire for 44 years. He flies one of Cal Fire’s 12 Type II Hueys.


In some cases, the blazes ignited when extreme Diablo Winds knocked down power lines and trees that fell on power lines. The winds also sent firebrands sailing out in front of existing wildfires to ignite new ones.


California has the largest government aerial firefighting force in the world with 51 aircraft, Lloyd said. The state created its own initial attack force 112 years ago in recognition of its wildfire-prone terrain. This year, Lloyd had to call in plenty of private contractors to help with the unprecedented blazes. He estimates 65-70 helicopters were working the fires. “Helicopters are critical to getting water, retardant, firefighters and supplies into the rugged chaparral-choked canyons of Northern California,” he said. Dense


stands of brush that flourished and expanded after an unusually wet winter – then dried to a crisp during the hottest summer ever recorded in California – also provided unusually high levels of brittle fuels for the conflagrations.


As more and more homes are built in California’s wildland- urban interface, firefighters are able to conduct fewer and fewer prescribed burns to reduce the ferocity of chaparral blazes. There is no commercial market for chaparral, and using machinery to cut it back is often not an option because of steep terrain and cost. “It’s a difficult balance,” Lloyd said. “We go through great exposure to danger to protect these homes.”


52


Nov/Dec 2017


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