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Forest Service brings
help
By J.P. Crumrine
Assistant Editor
It takes healthy people to manage a healthy forest. This lesson
is not lost on the U.S. Forest Service. Within a day, of losing four
firefighters from the San Jacinto Ranger District, the Forest Service
requested a California Interagency Incident Management Team 1.
Dave Feser, the Fire Management officer on the Angeles National Forest,
is the incident commander. The team is staffed at about 50 people who
are here to help the families of the fire victims, the district staff
and even the community, according to Chuck Dickson, Information officer
for the team, and from Kern County.
“We were asked to come and support the forest regarding the fatalities
and all the stuff that goes with that,” Dickson said. “We’ll respond to
requests.”
A liaison officer will work with each family. They will provide
information, find help, and provide a buffer between the family and the
public. Basically they continually ask the family members how they
would like a situation or issue handled and offer enough information
for them to express their preference.
Supporting each liaison officer will be a team composed of about five
people including a logistic person, a chaplain and people trained to
make the solutions happen and in stress management., according to
Dickson.
The team will offer help with funeral services, finding accommodations
for family members coming from out of town and other questions and
needs which can be overwhelming in times of intense grief.
The teams are also available to the district staff. Most of them knew
one or more of the victims.
On Thursday, immediately after the accident, Norm Walker, San Jacinto
fire chief, pulled his other three engines off the fire. Later that
day, even Forest staff who were not firefighters were seen at the
ranger station in various states of shock, tears and despair.
“This is the second family we come to help,” Dickson said.
In addition, the team is very aware of the affect throughout the
community. After a day and a half, Dickson quickly assessed Idyllwild,
“It’s a very close knit community, that pulling together very well.”
This is the second time in two months the team has had to respond to
the death of a firefighter. In the middle of August, a father of 3 died
fighting the Devil’s Den Fire on the Fishlake National Forest near Oak
City, Utah.
“This is similar, but we have four victims not just one.” Dickson said.
“God put us there to get a little insight to what we faced later. It
will make us more helpful to the needs of the families.”
J.P. Crumrine can be reached at jp@towncrier.com
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