Tag Archives: Firefighter

Firefighter killed battling massive California blaze

Firefighter killed battling massive California blaze

By Dan Whitcomb

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A firefighter was killed on Thursday while battling a mammoth California wildfire as crews sought to protect coastal cities and towns in the path of flames that have destroyed more than 700 homes.

The flag-draped remains of firefighter Cory Iverson, 32, were driven out of the fire zone in Ventura County, northwest of Los Angeles, in a hearse as his comrades saluted from roadsides and overpasses.

“Anne and I are saddened by Engineer Cory Iverson’s tragic death. His bravery and years of committed service to the people of California will never be forgotten,” California Governor Jerry Brown said in a statement.

Fire officials released little information about the circumstances surrounding Iverson’s death, which came while he was fighting the so-called Thomas Fire, now the fourth-largest wildfire on record in California since 1932.

The Los Angeles Daily News reported that Iverson, a California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection engineer, perished in an accident near the community of Fillmore, where a mayday alert was sounded.

The Thomas Fire, which erupted on Dec. 4 near a small private college in Ojai, has since blackened more than 249,000 acres.

The conflagration advanced again overnight to surpass the Zaca Fire, which struck Santa Barbara County in 2007, charring 240,000 acres (97,120 hectares).

The Thomas Fire, which was 35 percent contained as of Thursday evening, has burned 729 single-family homes to the ground and damaged another 175. The blaze has displaced more than 94,000 people.

The wildfire remained a threat to some 18,000 homes and other structures in the communities of Santa Barbara, Carpinteria, Summerland and Montecito along California’s scenic coastline, especially if hot, dry Santa Ana winds return.

Red-flag warnings, issued for extreme fire weather conditions in the area, were extended through Friday morning.

“Right now, there really is a fear in the community. We’re very used to fire, but the magnitude of this one is something that we haven’t seen,” Monique Limon, a state assembly member whose districts includes parts of Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, told Reuters

Many public schools in the Santa Barbara area canceled classes this week and will not reopen until the annual winter break ends in January.

Some of the other fires burning over the past week in San Diego and Los Angeles counties have largely been brought under control.

Investigators determined that the Skirball Fire, which destroyed six homes in Los Angeles’ wealthy Bel-Air neighborhood and scorched a building at a winery owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch, was started by a cooking fire at a homeless encampment, the Los Angeles Fire Department said earlier this week.

The Lilac Fire, which burned more than 4,000 acres (1,620 hectares) in northern San Diego County and destroyed 157 structures, was 97 percent contained as of Thursday, Cal Fire said.

(Additional reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee, Bernie Woodall in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Ben Klayman in Detroit; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Leslie Adler)

Vicious winds to test crews battling California wildfire

Vicious winds to test crews battling California wildfire

By Dan Whitcomb

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Firefighters in California will be tested by vicious winds on Friday morning as they battle a huge wildfire that has claimed the life of one of their colleagues and torched more than 700 homes.

Cory Iverson, 32, a California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection engineer, was killed on Thursday while tackling the so-called Thomas Fire in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.

“Cory Iverson … made the ultimate sacrifice to save the lives of others,” said Ventura County Sheriff Geoff Dean during a community meeting on Thursday night.

Fire officials released little information about the circumstances surrounding Iverson’s death. The Los Angeles Daily News reported that he perished in an accident near the community of Fillmore, where a mayday alert was sounded.

Santa Ana winds and humidity in the single digits has helped stoke the blaze that has swept through dry vegetation since it erupted on Dec. 4 near a small private college in Ojai. It has since blackened more than 249,000 acres (about 390 square miles, or 1,000 sq km) and is now the fourth-largest wildfire on record in California since 1932.

On Friday morning powerful winds are forecast which will subside during the day, the National Weather Service said.

“Winds will weaken Friday, turn westerly early Saturday, then become offshore and gusty again late Saturday night through Sunday evening,” the service said in an advisory.

The wildfire remained a threat to some 18,000 homes and other structures in the communities of Santa Barbara, Carpinteria, Summerland and Montecito along California’s coastline, especially if hot, dry Santa Ana winds return.

The Thomas Fire, which was 35 percent contained as of Thursday evening, has burned 729 homes to the ground and damaged another 175. The blaze has displaced more than 94,000 people.

The fire and others to the south in San Diego and Los Angeles counties have disrupted life for millions of people over the last 11 days.

They have caused schools to close for days, shut roads and driven hundreds of thousands from their homes and into shelters. The fires are also responsible for poor air quality throughout Southern California, forcing some commuters to wear protective face masks, local media reported.

(Additional reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee; editing by Andrew Roche)

Elite firefighter killed while battling western Montana blaze

(Reuters) – An elite California firefighter was killed by a falling tree while battling a blaze in western Montana, the second firefighting death in the area over the last two weeks, officials said.

Brent Witham, 29, of Mentone, California, was killed on Wednesday while fighting the so-called Lolo Peak Fire about 30 miles (50 km)south of Missoula in the Lolo National Park. It was sparked by lightning on July 15, the Missoula County sheriff and coroner said.

Witham was given CPR at the scene, but could not be revived, the Missoulian newspaper reported.

“Please keep wildland firefighters on the Lolo Peak fire and firefighters across the nation in your thoughts and prayers,” Leigh Golden, the fire department’s public information officer, said in an emailed statement to the newspaper.

Witham was a member of the Vista Grande Hotshots, an elite firefighting crew, one of 113 20-member specially trained squads in the United States that fight wildfires at close range with hand tools.

Witham’s death comes two weeks after Trenton Johnson, 19, was struck by a tree and killed while fighting the Florence Fire, a blaze in the Lolo National Forest, on July 19.

An elite squad of 19 Arizona firemen were killed in Arizona in 2014, the worst U.S. wildland firefighting tragedy in 80 years.

Witham was one of about 350 firefighters battling the Lolo Peak Fire that has burned 6,500 acres (2,600 hectares) of high elevation timber 10 miles (26 km) southwest of Lolo, forcing some evacuations.

 

(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee; editing by Clelia Oziel)

 

NY blast kills highest ranking firefighter since Sept. 11 attacks

A New York City firefighter walks through debris after an explosion ripped through a home in the New York City borough of the Bronx, New York

By Laila Kearney

NEW YORK (Reuters) – An explosion at a home in the New York City borough of the Bronx on Tuesday killed a battalion chief, the city’s highest ranking fire official to die in the line of duty since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, officials said.

Michael Fahy, a 17-year veteran of the fire department, died after he was struck in the head by building debris sent flying to the street, Fire Department Commissioner Daniel Nigro told reporters at New York-Presbyterian/Allen Hospital.

“We lost a hero today and our members are all saddened,” said Nigro, who was visibly emotional. “He was a star, a brave man.”

FDNY Battalion Chief Michael J. Fahy, who died September 27, 2016 after an explosion ripped through a house in the Bronx section of New York City, is seen in an undated picture released by the New York City Fire Department. New York City

FDNY Battalion Chief Michael J. Fahy, who died September 27, 2016 after an explosion ripped through a house in the Bronx section of New York City, is seen in an undated picture released by the New York City Fire Department. New York City Fire Department/Handout via Reuters

 

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said Fahy, whose father was a fire battalion chief with the city and a contemporary of Nigro’s, leaves behind three children, ages 6, 8 and 11.

The Uniformed Firefighters Association of Greater New York said he was the highest-ranking New York fire official to die in the line of duty since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

The blast just after 7 a.m. EDT also injured 20 people, including nine firefighters and six police officers, many of whom were transported to the hospital, fire officials said. Their conditions were not immediately disclosed, and investigators have not determined the cause of the blast.

Without elaborating, Police Commissioner James O’Neill said detectives were investigating reports of a marijuana “grow home” in the area.

Firefighters investigated reports of a possible gas leak in the area for about an hour before the explosion tore the roof off the two-story home, Nigro said.

Fahy was directing operations, including evacuating nearby buildings, when he was struck in the head and elsewhere by the debris, the commissioner said.

Police rushed the battalion chief to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. All of the victims were injured while in the street, Nigro said.

(Additional reporting by David Ingram and Daniel Wallis; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)