By Christian May-Suzuki
The Culver City Fire Department assisted in battling another major wildfire outside of the city, helping to contain the Woolsey Fire, which ignited last Thursday. Originally deployed to assist in the smaller Hill Fire in Ventura County, city firefighters were moved to the Woolsey Fire to assist the first strike teams in taking on the massive blaze.
Culver City engines 41 and 42 were deployed on the evening of Nov. 8 to join a collective strike team XLA-1075A, which was comprised of Culver City firefighters along with firefighters from the Santa Monica and Beverly Hills fire departments.
After about an hour taking on the Hill fire, assistance was needed in dealing with the much larger Woolsey Fire, and XLA-1075A was one of the teams sent.
On their way, the team ran into a part of the fire in the Triunfo Canyon area in Malibu, which they spent the night of Nov. 9, putting out the flames. They continued towards their assignment in Bell Canyon, where they worked on the Woolsey Fire the remainder of their shift.
On top of quickly defusing any fires they saw, the Culver City firefighters’ main duties were to clear brush and protect structures from various things that could possibly ignite and cause the buildings to catch fire in Bell Canyon.
As of Tuesday morning, the Woolsey Fire covered almost 100,000 acres, so Bell Canyon is only a small part of the Woolsey Fire. It continues to burn in Thousand Oaks and the northwest side of Malibu as of Tuesday afternoon. The entire city of Malibu has already been evacuated as of Tuesday morning, along with Bell Canyon, Oak Park, Topanga, and Monte Nido, among others.
That doesn’t mean that Culver City firefighters weren’t working hard and making an impact, spending as long as 48 hours at a time working to combat the blaze and the heavy winds that made the fire that much more volatile.
However, there is only so much they can do in one shift, team members said, so the unit returned Tuesday night from the fire for some much-needed rest.
While the Woolsey Fire continues to burn, there was fear among many Culver City residents that the fire might reach them, and the smoke that covered the skies and turned the sun orange for a time certainly didn’t help.
CCFD is all over it, officials said, assuring people that the smoke was only temporary and that there was no threat to Culver City from the Woolsey Fire. There are also firefighters that stayed home to protect and look out for Culver City, covering a small brush fire early Monday morning.
Once again, the CCFD has been an important cog in taking care of a major California wildfire, but they never forget where their mission truly lies: home in Culver City.
