Orange County Sheriff's Mobile Field Force was deployed over the weekend to LA's "Station" Fire
The Public Safety Community of Southern California has lost two brave firefighters, killed fighting the Station wildfire in Los Angeles County. The Orange County Sheriff's Department sent members of its Mobile Field Force to the fire scene after a mutual aid request was received from the Los Angeles Fire Department.
To read a Los Angeles Times story on how the two fallen fire fighters are remembered click here.
The Los Angeles Times is reporting that a memorial is planned later this week for the fire fighters. To read the story click here.
Sheriff Sandra Hutchens authorized deployment of personnel in support of the Region I, mutual aid request. LASD specifically requested twenty-four Deputies, three Sergeants and one Lieutenant for deployment, commencing at 2100 hours, August 29, 2009 for evacuation and saturation patrol in residential areas of La Canada and La Crescenta.
At 3 p.m. on Saturday, three OCSD representatives reported to the LASD Incident Command Post at the Hansen Dam to meet with the LASD Incident Commander to discuss mission specific details.
The OCSD Department Operations Center was activated to Level I in support of the request for resources. One Lieutenant was specifically tasked to coordinate mutual aid along with the on-duty Department Commander. Six additional support personnel were assigned to assist with the resource request. Action was commenced for eventual reimbursement by FEMA for Orange County resources used in the response to the fire.
Due to the intensity and speed of the fire and lack of available resources, the LASD Incident Commander made an additional request for a forty-eight member Mobile Field Force (MFF) for the “A-Shift”, Sunday, August 30, 2009 to augment further anticipated evacuation requirements.
The OCSD Department Commander notified allied law enforcement agencies (Brea, Fullerton, Anaheim and Santa Ana Police Departments) within the Operational Area of the additional personnel requirements and requested twenty-one police officers and four Sergeants assemble at the Katella facility for deployment to the Los Angeles area.
At about 9 p.m., OCSD deployed twenty-two Deputies, four Sergeants and one Lieutenant in uniform to the staging area of the LASD Incident Command Post (Hansen Dam park). The OCSD force received mission tasking for evacuation of residents in the vicinity of La Crescenta, Briggs and Shield Streets and Ocean View Blvd. and Rockdell Streets. Furthermore, mission details included patrol of evacuated areas and support to the fire department resources in the area.
Shortly before 5 a.m. on Sunday, LASD mobilized their Department and re-deployed on-duty personnel. This action eliminated the need for additional OCSD, mutual aid resources. The Department Commander immediately cancelled all allied agency and OCSD personnel response to the Los Angeles Area. All assembled personnel were demobilized and returned to regular assignments.
At about 11:30 a.m. the two OCSD squads deployed the previous night were relieved by other Region I law enforcement agencies and released back to Orange County.
Appropriate timekeeping and accountability were maintained via the Incident Command System (ICS) 204 and 214 rosters and “Mission Tasking” forms provided by LASD.