Article Contributed on: 10/25/2007 4:08:36 PM
Littleton Fire Rescue (LFR) has responded to a request for assistance from the California Office of Emergency Management and the California Department of Forestry (CALFIRE) to help fight a California wildfire.
LFR deployed a four-person team, two of whom are paramedics. They departed yesterday driving a fire engine owned by the Colorado State Forest Service. They arrived in California today and may stay for up to two weeks. They have been assigned to the Poomacha Fire on the Lajolla Indian Reservation. It is located about ten miles northeast of Escondido, California and backs up to the Cleveland National Forest. More than 35,000-acres have already burned and the fire is only 20 percent contained. Fifty homes have been destroyed and another 2,000 are threatened. The communities of Valley Center, Rincon, Pauma Valley, Hidden Meadows, Deer Springs, Vista and Palomar are threatened. There are 859 firefighters assigned to this fire and 12 firefighter injuries have occurred.
In addition, LFR will send an additional engine and crew of three as part of a Front Range Strike Team, which is a group of five, similar-type apparatus and staff from different agencies. This group is expected to deploy within the next 24 hours.
LFR's Wildland Fire Team was created in 1999 and is comprised of 30 members. This highly specialized team undergoes a minimum of 48 hours of focused training each year. All costs incurred by LFR are reimbursed.