by Garth Meyer
Redondo Beach firefighters are in action against the California wildfires. A crew of four and an engine returned Monday from working the Nixon fire in Riverside County. Also in the past month, a four-man RBFD crew plus a battalion chief helped with two fires in Northern California – the Shelley fire and Thompson Fire.
“This has been a busy season for the Redondo Beach Fire Department for mutual aid,” said Patrick Butler, Interim fire chief. “All crews are back home now (but) fire season is not anywhere near over.”
Mutual aid refers to requests from the governor’s Office of Emergency Services, when a fire is beyond the capacity of local departments.
South Bay city fire departments are in what is deemed “Area G,” and often are summoned to major fires.
The supplemental crews’ job is usually to protect houses and communities, though sometimes they go into the fields or forests in support.
“For the most part, it’s for when neighborhoods and buildings and homes are at risk,” Chief Butler said.
The RBFD expects to do more mutual aid work this summer and fall, as fires usually appear closer to Southern California in September/October.
Redondo Beach firefighters undergo mandatory wildland firefighting training every year, led by an in-house trainer at “Wiley Sump” – in Manhattan Beach across from MCHS – and on the hill in Palos Verdes.
The local department is reimbursed for mutual aid trips by the state, through a disaster declaration.
Butler, in his previous work with the City of Los Angeles Fire Department, has acted as an incident commander on three major wildfires in the past decade. ER
