Fire Fighters Battle Angora Fire

June 27, 2007 – IAFF locals throughout northern California and Nevada have battled a wildfire burning near Lake Tahoe this week.

Fire fighters from Lake Valley Professional Fire Fighters Association Local 4409, South Lake Tahoe Firemen’s Association Local 4427, Tahoe Douglas Local 2441, North Tahoe Professional Fire Fighters Association Local 3729, North Lake Tahoe Local 2139, Carson City Local 2251, El Dorado County Local 3556 and CDF Fire Fighters Local 2881 were among the IAFF affiliates that assisted in containing the wildfire.

The wildfire, called the Angora fire, is spread over 2,730 acres near South Lake Tahoe, California, by the California-Nevada state line.

The fire is burning in El Dorado County, California, a region protected by IAFF fire fighters with the Lake Valley Local 4409. Nearly all 20 fire fighters with Local 4409 responded as part of the initial attack.

“This is the fire we’ve been talking about for years. This is the 100-year fire. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Local 4409 President Andy Kaufer says.

More than 400 California Department of Forestry fire fighters at Local 2881 were assigned to the fire.

About 15 fire fighters with the South Lake Tahoe Local 4427 fought the fire. That’s nearly half of the 36-member department.

Fire fighters from many IAFF locals assigned to the fire were part of the initial attack to contain it.

“We depleted our entire city for the initial attack,” South Lake Tahoe Local 4427 President Jim Drennan says.

By late Monday night, June 25, many IAFF fire fighters from communities surrounding the fire had been released, and the U.S. Forest Service took command of fire fighting operations.

Nearly 300 homes and commercial buildings have been destroyed.

“It’s probably the most extreme fire and the most extreme devastation from a fire that I’ve seen,” Tahoe Douglas Local 2441 President Leo Horton says.

Kaufer says the intensity of the fire made it difficult for fire fighters to save neighborhoods.

“We tried to make a stand, but we had a freight train,” he says.

Two retired South Lake Tahoe fire fighters lost their homes in the wildfire, according to Drennan.

One battalion chief with the Lake Valley Fire Department lost his home, Kaufer reports.

No injuries have been reported.

About 145 fire engines, 54 crews and 11 helicopters are being used to fight the fire. More than 700 fire fighters, at least a dozen planes and helicopters and about 110 fire engines joined the battle against the blaze.

The fire started June 24, and an investigation into the cause is continuing. The Angora fire is 40 percent contained, and fire officials said they expect containment by Sunday, July 1.