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Crews identify factors in CA wildfire fight success
San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Calif. (November 19, 2008)Nov. 19--DIAMOND BAR -- Pushed by 50-mph gusts, the Triangle Complex Fire left nothing but black ash and bare brush in parts of Carbon Canyon as it raced northwest Saturday night toward Los Angeles County.
By Sunday, it had already burned 155 homes to the ground and damaged 104 more.
As firefighters Tuesday looked back at how they fought the 29,000-acre wildfire, they pointed to a pair of major factors that helped them beat back the devastating blaze.
The first assist came Sunday afternoon when the winds began dying. That allowed firefighters to use the 57Freeway as a fire break to keep the blaze from burning into the Puente Hills.
But first they had to get into place. As the fire rampaged through Corona, Yorba Linda and Chino Hills on Saturday, members of the firefighting community knew where they would make their stand: Diamond Bar.
"As it came closer, we understood the intensity," said Ron Haralson, an inspector for the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
"Fires jump freeways all the time, and we knew that," he said. "You have to hit it fast, and you have to hit it hard. We were putting down PhostrEx with aircraft, creating barriers with dozers, taking defensive positions. We were using all our defensive methods."
If the fire had jumped the 57 Freeway, it could have burned through the Puente Hill's dry brush and highly flammable eucalyptus trees. Rowland Heights, Hacienda Heights and Whittier would be in jeopardy.
"We really didn't want it getting past here," said Engineer Mark Jimenez of county Fire Station 28 in Uptown Whittier, who sprayed down the last burning embers in Tonner Canyon on Tuesday.
"If it keeps going, it could have burned all the way to Turnbull Canyon (in Whittier)," he said.
Because the fire started on state land near Corona -- possibly from the exhaust of a car on the 91 Freeway -- the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection was involved from the start.
At about noon Sunday, the fire in Corona combined with another fire that had started at a dump in Brea, said Julie Hutchinson, a fire captain for the state.
The state started moving people, equipment and aircraft to Diamond Bar.
"We were moving resources over there as soon as we saw the fire moving that way," she said.
By Sunday afternoon, planes were carpeting Tonner Canyon with PhostrEx and firefighters were up on ridges, clearing brush.
About 1,800 homes in gated communities in the hills were evacuated.
By Sunday night, firefighters had the upper hand on the blaze and cool air began blowing from the ocean, according to the National Weather Service.
By Monday, the fire was mostly surrounded, and by Tuesday it was basically extinguished, officials said.
On Tuesday afternoon, crews from all over the state marched through steep terrain in the hills using fire hoses and hand tools to extinguish any last embers.
"That was a very close call," Haralson said.
ben.baeder@sgvn.com
(626) 962-8811, Ext. 2230
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Copyright (c) 2008, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, West Covina, Calif.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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