Training runs from June 30-July 2, smoke may be visible in the area
The Sonoma County Fire District and the Santa Rosa Fire Department are holding a three-day live fire training exercise on one- to two-acre plots of grassland off River Road at Trenton Road from June 30 to July 2 from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Smoke may be visible from the River Road area during the training.
Thirty firefighters from the Sonoma County Fire District and the Santa Rosa Fire Department are participating in the exercise, which is being led by CalFire Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit Battalion Chief Marshall Turbeville.
The firefighters will be learning how to use fire as a means of creating control lines and structure defense in the wildland fire environment. This fire control tactic is called a “firing operation.” In firing operations, vegetation is ignited ahead of the fire front to reinforce control lines by burning away the flammable fuels.
Additionally, when water is ineffective or unavailable during a firefight, firing operations can sometimes be the best method to control or redirect a fire front.
“With fire season rapidly approaching, it is imperative that our firefighters are fully trained and ready to encounter this challenging fire season,” states a Sonoma County Fire District press release. “Safety is the foremost in any training we conduct and numerous fire resources will be assigned to this class daily to ensure the fire stays within the prescriptive boundaries and to confirm all vegetation is completely extinguished prior to leaving.”
On the first day of class, prior to the start of the exercise, Turbeville and the participants reviewed the exercise’s “incident action plan.”
Each fire incident that crews respond to has an incident action plan that dictates which firefighters will be in which squad, lays out objectives and a medical plan, and provides a weather forecast and safety message.
On the June 30 exercise, crews were divided into six squads with three to four people in each squad.
Prior to lighting the firing operation, crews check the weather once again to make sure wind and humidity conditions are stable. If the wind is too strong or if the relative humidity is too low, then the operation will not proceed.
Crews will be working on the River Road property, which has been farmed by the same family for the last 20 years, until July 2.
