Valley Chief Brian Cyr Leads Fire Line Saving former Sonoman’s Neighborhood
By Anna Pier
Eight firefighters and two engines from Sonoma Valley Fire District left for Los Angeles the evening of January 7 to assist with fighting the devastating fires that started that day. A battalion chief and a captain went separately, accompanying five engines from north counties. All personnel from Sonoma Valley worked on the Palisades Fire.
Arriving Wednesday morning, January 8, the two Sonoma Valley engine crews were put to work immediately. Captain Ben Gulson said that normally, with the time gap since the fire broke out, the most destruction would have been over; but with significant winds continuing, there was still active burning, and “dire need for assistance.”
Engine 3385, from the Glen Ellen station, was sent to Sunset Boulevard, where Gulson, Engineer Tim Wanger, and Firefighters Hayden Busch and Jamie Pierce worked first to save commercial buildings, then moved into neighborhoods. With firefighters on engines from Santa Rosa and Penngrove Rancho Adobe, they were held on the line from Wednesday morning until Friday, when the winds died down. Gulson pointed out that every fire is a little bit different. The continuing windy weather had created a shortage of resources, so the work did not follow the usual ebb and flow of 24 hours on, 24 off. Captain Gulson affirmed that he was “really happy to be able to help,” especially remembering that firefighters from southern California had brought such important help to the 2017 fires in Sonoma County.
Captain Mark Branconi and Firefighters Ismael Gonzalez, Dan Deely and Robert Caamaño also drove all night, on the state’s Office of Emergency Services engine, which is housed at the Agua Caliente station, arriving the morning of January 8. The crew started first in the neighborhoods of Pacific Palisades, then Huntington Palisades, where they worked until the morning of the 9th. The continuing “significant winds made for a rapidly evolving incident, challenging our ability to stop the spread from structure to structure,” Branconi stated. Returning Friday after a rest, they had transitioned to tactical patrols. They helped salvage a few keepsakes for people. Branconi said the crew did a really good job of saving homes, given the difficult circumstances. He commented that people returning to their homesites – whether their home was saved or they lost everything – were all appreciative.
Battalion Chief Brian Cyr (pictured) went to Los Angeles as a Strike Leader for five engines from Mendocino and Humboldt Counties. With him was Sonoma Valley Captain Jason Campbell, a Strike Leader Trainee. They arrived Thursday January 9 at 2:00 AM. As they were on Type 3 wildlands engines, they were sent up into the canyons. Cyr said it was “not normal wildlands firefighting – the fuel was insane, and the fire behavior insane, with winds pushing 25-30 MPH, and gusting at 50 MPH.” There was, however, air support all that day.
The team worked four 24-hour operational periods, the first two in wildlands firefighting. Up on the Santa Monica ridge, on a stretch where Mulholland Drive is a dirt road, they supported handcrews, who work where bulldozers can’t go. The crews consist of 15 or 20 persons using shovels, saws and other hand tools to make a clearing four to six-feet wide. The firefighters follow, laying down hose in the trenches. This work held the line, preventing the fire from going north over the ridge and engulfing Encino.
Encino resident Eliza Pier and her husband had evacuated their home of ten years because of that threat. Pier, a Sonoma Valley High graduate and daughter of the Sun’s Anna Pier and Will Pier, expressed her appreciation for the work of Sonomans Cyr and Campbell, and all the people up on that line. “I am profoundly grateful. ‘Dirt Mulholland’ has always been a gateway to enter the wonders of the land conservancy acres of the Santa Monica mountains, giving us a reprieve from urban life. While I’ve always known it was a fire road, it has taken on a new meaning. It represents the dedication and courage of all the people who risked their lives there to save our community.”
Cyr said that his personal experience of being at this fire was “tough. It hits home so much harder because of our 2017 experience.” He added that when he first called his wife from LA, she asked him, “How are you doing with another community burning down?” The team worked two more 24-hour periods, patrolling and picking up any remaining fires or hot spots. Cyr commented that no one expects to fight wildlands fire in January.
In a previous interview with the Sun, Steve Akre, Sonoma Valley Fire District Chief, had said of his staff, “At its core it’s a special staff – their hearts are in it completely, and that translates.” It is also important to Akre to assure the community that “when we send our firefighters to help with fires in other areas, we’re still always fully staffed here in the Valley.” This is possible because firefighters who remained in Sonoma worked many overtime shifts.
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