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As brush fires have become a year-round reality for Southern California fire departments, local fire agencies are expanding their arsenal against the ever-present danger of wildfires.
Over the past few years, Orange County Fire Authority has received equipment and personnel upgrades “that have already benefited us in battling wildfires,” explained Greg Barta, public information officer for the Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA).
“The really exciting news is that we, OCFA, also purchased two new Firehawk helicopters to operate here,” Barta said. “So, we will have those—they should be arriving sometime in the end of this year is the plan, and those helicopters are actually capable of dropping 1,000 gallons of water per drop.”
“We’ll have two of those in addition to the two helicopters we already have, so we’ll have a very effective fleet of four helicopters,” Barta continued. “That’ll definitely aid in the brush fires that do occur.”
Over the past few years, OCFA has also received new type-3 fire engines, which are more off-road-capable and enable the fire department to reach less accessible spaces to extinguish brush fires, Barta explained.
Following a historically wet winter, Barta said the vegetation that thrived during the rains will become a fire hazard once they dry out.
“Our county is very unique; it’s intermixed with various areas that are within the brush region,” Barta said. “As we look out upon the hillsides, we have homes that are built right into the hillside where there’s acres and acres of wild vegetation out there … so the threat of wildfires is there, and our No. 1 mission here at OCFA is to protect lives and then property.”
In addition to the new helicopters, a partnership that began in 2021 called Quick Reaction Force has also helped the department battle year-round brush fires.
“We have a joint partnership with Southern California Edison, and so it’s them in partnership with us, Los Angeles County Fire and Ventura County Fire Department for what we call the Quick Reaction Force,” Barta said. “It’s a team of helicopters that are capable of dropping 3,000 gallons of water at a time.”
The Quick Reaction Force, which was formed in 2021, has been a game-changer for the fire departments, Barta said.
In its first year, the Quick Reaction Force “dropped nearly three (3) million gallons of water on more than 50 wildfires in Southern California,” according to a media release from the County of Los Angeles Fire Department.
“It’s a force multiplier having those helicopters at our disposal,” Barta said. “We have our own OCFA ones as well, which operate on obviously any of the fires here in Orange County, but having those additional ones, those did make a difference, because they’re dropping such a large quantity of water that they really provide a huge punch in an attack on fire.”
Barta added that OCFA’s goal is to keep 95% of brush fires to 10 or fewer acres.
“Now, sometimes that’s impossible, as we’ve seen with some of the bigger fires in recent memory,” Barta said. “A lot of times that’s due to the weather; when we have the Santa Ana winds, it’s very hard for us to control a brush fire.”
“But having the latest equipment definitely enables us to better combat these fires when they come around,” Barta continued. “An example of that is the Quick Reaction Force helicopters and the new Firehawk helicopters that we’ll have arriving here shortly.”
Both new additions to the OCFA’s resources “make a huge difference on the fire ground and a huge difference in the community,” Barta said.
Just this year, after a fire broke out in Laguna Niguel in mid-July, the Quick Reaction Force “made significant drops, working in unison with (OCFA’s) helicopters, as well as partner agency helicopters,” Barta said.
“It’s a huge advantage for us keeping those brush fires to under 10 acres,” Barta continued.
