Briceland Volunteer Fire Department

The Tim Olsen Memorial Fire Station is getting a major energy upgrade!

Thanks to funding through the California Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation (LCI), in partnership with the Redwood Coast Energy Authority (RCEA), and the installation work of Stephens Electrical, Briceland Volunteer Fire Department is adding solar generation and battery storage to our fire station.

Southern Humboldt has played a significant role in the national story of renewable energy and many of our Briceland neighbors have a long history of adapting to life off the grid. From the earliest plans for the new station, incorporating solar power into its design was a natural fit with both our community and our surroundings.

Critically, our new battery storage system will provide backup power during electrical grid outages, helping keep the fire station operational when our community needs emergency services most. In an area where power outages can accompany wildfire, severe weather, and other emergencies, the ability to generate and store electricity on site adds another layer of resilience to our emergency response.

This project is part of LCI’s Energy-Resilient Fire Services in High-Threat Communities initiative, a $3 million investment led by Redwood Coast Energy Authority to help fire stations across the North Coast maintain critical operations during emergencies. The initiative includes partnerships with fire departments and Tribal fire agencies throughout the region, including Briceland Volunteer Fire Department.

LCI recently highlighted the project during a joint Regional Resilience Grant Program and Adaptation Planning Grant Program site visit to Humboldt County. Altogether, LCI has invested $4.68 million in climate adaptation and resilience projects across California’s North Coast, supporting projects focused on energy resilience, wildfire prevention, climate adaptation, and community preparedness.

  With many CalFire and local government personnel and apparatus deployed to Hoopa for the MP18 Fire, Briceland VFD and other local departmentrs were called on to assist with ongoing local emergency response. Briceland Engine 5416 and a four person crew was assigned to the Bridgeville CalFire Station for several days and responded to numerous medical call while on duty there. One unusual walk-in emergency brought the crew a small puppy that had stopped breathing after being stung multiple times by bees. With their medical training and some improvisation, the crew administered oxygen with positive pressure and the puppy regained its breath and vitals, then was sent on to emergency veterinary care. After several days at Bridgeville, 5416 was reassigned to Thorn Station in Whitethorn.

To ensure our communities continued to have a local response capability while so many of our local volunteer firefighters and resources were assigned to the fire in Hoopa, an additional local coverage of the “Westside” (Hwy 101 to Shelter Cove) was established. Briceland Engine 5436 and engines from Whitethorn and Telegraph Ridge Volunteer Fire Departments were staffed by firefighters in 12-hour shifts.

This summer has been a good example of how mutual aid works at the local level. Our volunteer departments are willing to send firefighters and equipment wherever they are needed, but just as importantly, neighboring departments work together to make sure that when our people are away helping others, our own communities remain protected.

When the Feliz Fire broke out near Hopland in neighboring Mendocino County on August 1st, Southern Humboldt fire departments quickly banded together again, reforming Strike Team 2075C.

The five Type 3 engines making up the team were staffed by firefighters from Briceland, Shelter Cove, Salmon Creek, Telegraph Ridge, and Redway Fire Departments, and were led by Shelter Cove Chief Nick Pape as Strike Team Leader.

After a 24-hour shift working in extreme heat to hold the fire’s edge and help corral the blaze, the team received word of another large and destructive fire burning in Calaveras County. Once released from the Feliz Fire, ST 2075C was immediately reassigned to the Gann Fire.

After travelling across the central valley and into the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, crews spent another shift working that fire, securing homes that had survived the initial spread and gathering information on structures and property that had been lost. Unfortunately, there was a great deal of loss to document from the fast-moving fire, which burned under exceptionally dry conditions.

As additional emergency resources arrived by land and air and winds began to subside, firefighters were able to stop the Gann Fire’s forward progress.

On August 7, after several days of back-to-back assignments, the Southern Humboldt strike team was released and began the trip home.

We are proud of the firefighters from across Southern Humboldt who came together to represent our communities on these incidents. The ability of our local volunteer departments to combine personnel, equipment, and experience into a single, effective strike team is a powerful example of regional cooperation and mutual aid.