While the storm winds gusted and the rivers crested, our crew was active and ready to respond to emergency calls for medical distress, trees down, high water hazards, fallen electrical lines, landslides, road slipouts, or, of course, fires!. Briceland Fire was able to provide 24hr staffing of two engines for the 3 day duration of the storm, joining crews from Redway Fire, Shelter Cove Fire Department and Petrolia Volunteer Fire Department in a Cal-OES prepositioning assignment of six engines in Southern Humboldt County.

Having our Type-6 Engine 5446 “saw module” equipped with a wide assortment of chainsaws and hand tools available for this kind of event is especially useful for dealing with trees down and debris on the roads. Our Type-1 Engine 5416 was also specially equipped and ready to respond to vehicle accidents or water rescue calls, which thankfully did not occur.

Thank you to all who help us do what we do, and for staying safe while this storm passed over us!

While many CalFire resources were deployed to corral a recent outbreak of wildfires in the Central Valley and Southern California, some local government fire departments were called on to help fill the gaps to maintain emergency fire and medical response for the unit.

This Sunday, June 9th 2024 was another great success in skill sharing and camaraderie at the Southern Humboldt Community Park with our fire service community! The Wailaki word Lachinde (meaning “Hazel”) was used as the incident name for this training to honor the work of local indigenous peoples to restore cultural burning to our landscape. It was truly a huge undertaking with participation and collaboration from many volunteer fire departments, CalFire as well as prescribed fire and cultural fire practitioners.

The Wildlands Readiness Drill completes the 2nd weekend of training and fulfills the NWCG requirements for our Academy trainees to reach FFT2, a nationally recognized qualification. It also serves as the annual refresher for seasoned fire service members to renew their certification.

Engines and fire service members from Garbervile Fire, Miranda Fire, Salmon Creek Fire Protection District, Redway Fire Protection District, Shelter Cove Fire Department, Whale Gulch VFC, Telegraph Ridge Volunteer Fire, Fruitland Ridge VFD, Palo Verde VFC, Honeydew VFC, and Petrolia Fire joined Briceland VFD together with members of the Wailaki Cultural Burn Crew and the Humboldt County Prescribed Burn Association.

Special thanks to CalFire HUU and the crew of ‘copter 901 that gave us a close up view of their aircraft as well as to sponsors providing funding to make this possible; the California State Coastal Conservancy, Humboldt County Prescribed Burn Association, Humboldt Co. Resources Conservation District and the Humboldt Co. Fire Instructors Association. Also thanks to Serenity Wood and Shelter Cove 5100 for the photos!