OC firefighters prep for wildfire season

With the 2020 California wildfire season fast approaching, the Joint Forces Training Base (JFTB) hosted the Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) for a full day of battalion-level wildland firefighting drills and training exercises on May 28.

The agenda included practice filling the 360-gallon belly tank of the OCFA’s Bell 412 EP water dropping helicopter when the only available “water point” is a fire engine or water tender.

Progressive hose-laying drills prepared responders to create their own water pipeline in the wildland by progressively adding 100-foot intervals of hose to attack a fire at its perimeter when natural water sources are lacking. Drills included rehearsing communication plans, radio procedures and fire shelter deployment.

“OCFA conducts wildland refresher training annually to remind our staff of the dangers and threats that come with the season” said Joe Smith, OCFA fire captain and assistant fire training officer. “Conducting these exercises at JFTB provided an opportunity for our responders in the northern part of the county to receive this critical training near their stations, and avoid service interruptions to the community.”

The training marked the latest building block in a growing partnership between OCFA and the California National Guard. In September, OCFA initiated a 150-day pilot program for Fire Integrated Real-Time Intelligence System (FIRIS) and installed in a turboprop aircraft that was based at Los Alamitos Army Airfield during the program duration.

Equipped with infrared and radar sensors, the aircraft generates accurate, real-time, wildfire perimeter mapping of the size and scope of developing fires. Negotiations are in progress to permanently base the aircraft at JFTB.

—from a JFTB release