Shocking video and photos show the rapid spread of the Park Fire, including the timelapse of a “fire whirl” captured by a UC San Diego camera.
Firefighters from around the state were called on when the flames sparked on Wednesday crews from Clovis and Fresno soon deployed to help.
Clovis offered an engine with 3 firefighters on board and Fresno sent some of their own.
“Currently we have 5 of our people from Fresno Fire that are up there supporting The Park incident,” said Shane Brown, Fresno Fire Fire Captain. “So we have a taskforce leader and a fire engine that is up there with four of our firefighters onboard.”
Not all firefighters can be deployed out of the county, they have to undergo special training to help them transition seamlessly into the operations alongside other departments.
Many firefighters are constantly taking new courses so they can take on any role necessary at these large-scale operations, sometimes different from their daily jobs.
“The idea is I show up, I get briefed by whoever I’m reporting to and kind of brought into the incident and the idea is I hit the ground running within the first operational period,” said Brown. “Then I’m able to assimilate into the incident and actually provide, you know some benefit to the incident.”