The battle to control the massive Gifford wildfire, which has been burning on the Central Coast since August 1, continues. Firefighters added a new element to the fight this week.
They’re fighting fire with fire.
"There's a couple of different styles or tactics of firing operations. We break them into offensive and defensive. And, we have different tools in how we can do those firing operations," said Scott Safechuck, who is with the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, and a Public Information Officer on the Gifford Fire.
He said using fire to fight fire can be an effective tool. He talked about the different strategies: "An offensive firing operation would be close to the edge of the fire. We're using fire by putting it on the ground, using various tools like drip torches, or unmanned aircraft, and using helicopters. For an offensive firing operation, we're really close to the fire, and we're taking out strips of vegetation as we move along."
Safechuck added that the other approach is planned defensive burns.
"We're a little further along from the fire's edge, and we are putting fire down on the ground, in removing the fuel between where our resources are, and our containment lines, and where we put fire retardant on the ground, using aircraft. We're using that as an anchor to put fire on the ground and burn that vegetation between where our people are and those containment lines, and the edge of the fire."
He said using fire to fight fire isn’t as simple as it sounds. It has to be carefully choreographed to ensure that a firefighting tool doesn’t become a new problem.
"Imagine this train of resources," said the firefighter. "At the front of the train, you have the firing crew. They're using different resources like incendiary devices and drip torches to light that vegetation on fire. They start with depth, with people walking through the vegetation. They have several people in a line going into the depths of that vegetation. Sometimes they are throwing incendiary devices to get heat going on the interior of the fire, not so close to the retardant line, and then they start putting retardant on the ground closer to the retardant line."
Ideally, there’s a lot of backup in place during these burns to keep a handle on the burns. "You have a holding crew. You have all these firefighters looking away from the fire into the unburned area behind them, the direction we don't want the fire to go," said Safechuck. "In case an ember spots into that area, they can jump on it and attack it. There are engines that support them, and those firefighters are walking or running with a hose, and they can extinguish that spot fire. They're also supported by dozers."
Safechuck said they’ve been using these burns to keep the Gifford Fire from heading into rugged wilderness areas, where the terrain makes it even harder to fight. Designated wilderness areas also create another issue for firefighters. There are limits on how the fire can be fought, like restrictions on using bulldozers.
"We're trying to keep it from burning into geographical areas that we don't want it to go into. Right now, we have a really good weather pattern that's helping us accomplish that goal," said Safechuck.
Firefighters have been using managed burns to try to control the growth of the northern edge of the fire, which has been the most active part of the blaze for the last week.
