SHORELINE, Wash. — A Shoreline firefighting crew is among more than a dozen departments from western Washington in northern California, working grueling shifts to battle a historically enormous wildfire spanning an area seven times the landmass of Seattle.
"California's on fire right now," said Gabe DeBay, a paramedic firefighter from Shoreline, working to create "defensible space" around thousands of properties in the fire's way, with the goal of saving homes and lives.
Their work is to cut down, rip out and get rid of anything that could be fuel for a massive fire bearing down people who live in Napa and Sonoma counties.
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According to CalFire on Monday, the massive LNU Lightning Complex in the North Bay had burned 347,630 acres, or 533 square miles, an area more than 11 times the size of San Francisco. It is California’s second-largest wildfire on record.
The complex fires have destroyed 871 homes and structures and damaged another 234.
“We just got off a long shift,” DeBay said. “We were on for 28 hours from 6 a.m. yesterday morning until 10 a.m. today.” DeBay’s crew worked a 28-hour shift doing endless grinding work in the heat to save homes from being erased by the incoming firestorm.
"Anything that we can do to help that house survive, that's our job at this point in time," he said.
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That includes climbing onto roofs and sweeping out years of tinder-dry needles and leaves, which could become explosive to falling embers.
Some homeowners, such as Elliot Doss, are soaking their roofs and their yards themselves, ignoring the mandatory evacuation order. Doss built his house in the area 30 years ago.
“I’m not supposed to be here, but I’m saving my home, I hope,” Doss said.
But right outside Doss’ home was DeBay’s firetruck from Shoreline.
It’s part of a massive organized strike team in which Air National Guard Choppers lift 600-gallon water buckets to slow the incoming fire.
Gabe says homeowners have already called them heroes for protecting them, but tomorrow will be another coffee-fueled round-the-clock shift.
“It will be at least another 24 hours tomorrow, so we’ll be on the lines,” he said. “Let our friends and family back at home know we love them and we’re staying as safe as we can.”
Cox Media Group
