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Firefighters from the Woodside and Menlo Park fire districts headed to Napa County on Monday to help fight the Tubbs Fire near Calistoga, with a fire engine and four firefighters from each agency.
The two local agencies are part of a “strike team” covering the south end of San Mateo County, which includes firefighters from San Mateo County, Central County and Redwood City fire agencies.
The strike team has two commanders and a sports utility vehicle. The team members could be gone for as long as 14 days, according to Chief Harold Schapelhouman of the Menlo Park Fire Protection District.
Early Monday morning, two other strike teams from central and northern San Mateo County left to join the fight against wildfires in Marin, Sonoma, Mendocino and Lake counties.
That means, Chief Schapelhouman said, that every fire agency in San Mateo County has now sent a fire engine and crew to help fight the North Bay wildfires. He said the strike teams are part of an emergency system that deploys fire units from across the state, coordinated by Cal Fire and the governor’s Office of Emergency Services.
“What you’re seeing is essentially the largest combined fire agency in the world literally move an army of firefighters, equipment, air assets and supporting units into Northern California to go to war with a fire storm,” he said.
Reserve fire equipment and off-duty personnel fill in for those who are deployed to keep local communities covered, he said.
On Monday morning, the Tubbs Fire involved 10,000 acres of brush, and the fire was zero percent contained. There were numerous civilian injuries, and a significant number of residential and commercial structures were lost, the chief said.
The fires have personally affected the Menlo Park district, he said. A Menlo Park fire battalion chief and his family had to evacuate their home in Napa at 2 a.m. Monday, he said. By Monday afternoon they were staying with family in the area and did not know the status of their home.
Former Menlo Park fire board member John Osmer, who lives in Santa Rosa, “reportedly lost his home to the fire,” the chief said.
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