A strike force team sent to Southern California from southern San Luis Obispo County is back home, with most of the wildfires at or near containment, and at least one Nipomo firefighter is happy to be sleeping in a fire station bed.

“We always joke about the beds here at the fire station, about how uncomfortable they are and how they're nothing like sleeping at home,” said Cal Fire Capt. Felix Camacho, who led one of the strike teams.

“But I'll tell you, sleeping in our beds here at the (Nipomo) fire station last night was the best night's sleep I'd had since Saturday (Oct. 20). On the lines, we were all on the ground, in the cab or up on top of the engine or on a wire cot we got from Wal-Mart.”

Two of the five San Luis Obispo County strike teams returned Sunday night, and Camacho and the other Nipomo firefighters were back at work immediately.

But other local firefighters -- from city, county and U.S. Forest Service crews -- remain on the fire lines.

The Santa Maria Fire Department, for example, had eight members and one engine assigned to the Southern California fires this week, while the Lompoc Fire Department had a brush truck and a pickup truck with eight members working on the fires in various capacities.

Meanwhile, the Santa Barbara County Fire Department had five brush trucks and roughly 17 firefighters at the Santiago Fire in Orange County, and Los Padres National Forest had 15 fire engines along with three Hot Shot crews, one air attack airplane, two helicopters and 50 personnel assisting with the Ranch Fire and others.

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That was putting a strain on the remaining staff members to cover local fires, but only Cal Fire in San Luis Obispo called in extra help.

With approximately 135 Cal Fire personnel and 10 engines from San Luis Obispo County assigned to assist with the Southern California firefighting effort, five engines and a strike-team leader from Shasta County - likely 21 fire personnel - were expected to arrive Wednesday and stay for “at least a couple days,” local officials said.

One Central Coast firefighter who is still on duty on the Harris Fire doesn't expect to be sent home at least until this weekend.

Rob Lewin, a Cal Fire battalion chief for Pismo Beach, is serving as the deputy incident commander on the Harris Fire near San Diego.

As of Monday, that fire had charred nearly 91,000 acres; destroyed 206 homes, 247 outbuildings and one commercial structure; and killed five people and injured 37, including 16 firefighters.

“The fires are going really well; their progress has absolutely been stopped,” Lewin said this week. “We're confident where they're stopped is where they will remain.”

Incident commanders didn't expect full control until this weekend, he said Monday.

Meanwhile, weather forecasters were calling for more Santa Ana winds today and Saturday, although not as severe as the 80 to 100 mph gusts than fanned last week's siege of wildfires.

The Harris Fire is where a team of four firefighters braved a raging inferno in an effort to save two civilians trapped atop a hill. They were overrun by the flames, leaving two firefighters in critical condition in drug-induced comas and two others in serious but stable condition.

The father they were trying to save died in the blaze; the son remained in critical condition in a hospital burn unit.

Lewin said Monday he visited one of the firefighters - the only one who was conscious or not in surgery.

“He looked like the invisible man,” Lewin said. “His head was completely bandaged, and his hands were completely bandaged, but he was in good spirits, and his wife was in good spirits.”

He said firefighters “filled the boot” with $5,800 in donations to help the injured and their families, and he heard the San Diego Chargers donated $30,000 to the fund.

Lewin said firefighters are being offered help for the stress they are facing.

“We're continuing to support the firefighters emotionally,” he said. “It's been a critical incident for stress, everything from pain from all the destruction they've seen, to friends and colleagues of the firefighters who were burned to just being exhausted.”

Firefighters themselves are offering support to the families who lost their homes in the Harris Fire.

“All the people are returning to their homes, and the firefighters are in the communities to greet the citizens as they arrive,” Lewin said. “They're helping them unload their cars, dig through the ash to help look for jewelry that might have survived.

“The firefighters are in the same places where they were when the fire was coming through and they were trying to save homes,” he added.

Camacho's strike team was sent south the day after the onslaught of wildfires broke out Oct. 21. For the first three days, they battled the Buckweed Fire near Santa Clarita.

Then last Wednesday, the team was sent to the Prado Staging Area in Chino, where teams pouring in from around the country were being given assignments.

“We didn't even have time to refuel and we were reassigned to the Grass Valley Fire near Lake Arrowhead,” Camacho said.

Once there, they were immediately redeployed to the Slide Fire.

Driving along Rim of the World Drive to the Slide Fire near Running Springs was a little surreal.

“We'd go through ... little towns that were like ghost towns because everyone had been evacuated,” he said. “We'd drive through scarred timber and debris, then go through a little meadow with green grass.”

Camacho said he saw many sights that moved him during his time on the fire lines, and he was amazed at the support of the community.

In the base camp at Snow Valley Ski Resort, residents brought firefighters food, drinks and baked goods, and even businesses kicked in support.

“Wal-Mart sent semis up the mountain with pillows and blankets for the firefighters, and they were handing them out for free,” he said. “I've seen things like that before, but never on this scale, when a Wal-Mart semi pulls into camp and the driver climbs into the back and just starts handing things out and telling you to take them for free.”

Lewin said all of the responses from residents continue to be appreciative, not just of the firefighters but also of the sheriffs deputies who helped them evacuate and Red Cross personnel who arrived to help.

“The incident showed that in California we can cooperatively work with all the other agencies together for the benefit of the citizens and get the job done,” Lewin said. “I think that's something that's special about California.”

Mike Hodgson can be reached at 489-4206, Ext. 5010, or mhodgson@santamariatimes.com.

November 2, 2007