Sonoma County firefighters heading home from Southern California fires

The 2017 wildfire season appears to finally be over for more than 60 Sonoma County firefighters returning or due home before Christmas from Southern California’s massive, late-season wildland blazes.

Five engines with about 20 firefighters arrived home Monday night and five more engines were en route Tuesday afternoon, after two weeks of fighting fires in Ventura County, Los Angeles and San Diego. If today’s projected Santa Ana winds don’t push flames over containment lines, still others should be released, according to fire officials.

“That’s what they’re telling us,” said Santa Rosa Fire Deputy Chief Bill Shubin who is leading a multicounty team of 20 firefighters on five wildland fire engines, including a Sonoma Valley crew of four. Shubin’s strike team is still on Ventura’s Thomas fire with hopes of heading north today or at least by the end of the week.

The firefighters and equipment headed south in the first days of the fires, which started Dec. 4 and 5, with smaller fires lighting up in subsequent days, pushed by strong inland winds and fueled by drought-parched vegetation.

The call for help in the southland came just weeks after local firefighters were bolstered by thousands from throughout California and more than a dozen states in their bid the fires that burned here in October.

Sonoma County fire officials said helping at the Southern California fire catastrophe was an opportunity to respond to the aid so many gave for the Tubbs, Nuns and Pocket fires, which together burned about 88,000 acres in the county and destroyed more than 5,100 homes.

“There was no question of us leaving Santa Rosa after the Tubbs fire to help the state,” Shubin said.

The odds locals would be home for the holidays turned favorable early this week as more than 8,000 firefighters are battling the 271,000-acre Thomas fire, now 50 percent contained.

The fire is burning high up in the Los Padres National Forest where it’s being monitored by the Forest Service, said Jack Piccinini, fire chief for Windsor and Rincon Valley fire districts. Piccinini is part of the Cal Fire management team, led by Sonoma County Division Chief Todd Derum, overseeing the Thomas fire suppression.

“We’ve turned the corner. Maybe we’ll be home for Christmas Eve,” Piccinini said of his own situation.

Santa Rosa Fire Capt. Jack Thomas and his team of five local engines came home Monday night.

The second team of five local engines headed north up Interstate 5 on Tuesday afternoon.

“Everybody is glad to be coming home,” said team leader Petaluma fire Battalion Chief Jeff Holden by cellphone as the Windsor, Rincon Valley, Sonoma Valley, Geyserville and Santa Rosa fire group neared Kettleman City.

They’d gone in engines made for rural terrain and worked fires in Los Angeles, San Diego and finally spent several days on the Thomas fire, the third largest in state history.

Thursday they were working on the fire line in rugged terrain when flames threatened nearby firefighters, killing one who was overrun as he fled, said Holden. Holden saw at least some of the incident unfold as he used binoculars while standing on a nearby ridge, planning a safe path for ?his crew.

The Sonoma County crew rushed to the firefighters and put out flames, helping clear the area for the death investigation, Holden said. Cal Fire is investigating the death of Cal Fire engineer Cory Iverson, 32, of San Diego.

Local firefighters typically are released ahead of Cal Fire firefighters and more than 100 state fire personnel from Sonoma, Napa, Lake and Solano counties likely were expected to remain on the fire lines through the holiday, according to Cal Fire.

While Shubin’s crew was told they’ll likely be headed home today, they’re not promising family. “We don’t want to get their hopes up,” he said. The hesitancy is warranted. They almost made it home last week but three hours away from Sonoma County, fire officials called them back when conditions in Ventura County worsened.

The ride home will feel good, he said. “We’re all looking forward to Christmas and the holidays.”

With drought-like conditions persisting in Southern California, it could be a short break, he feared. “We might be down here early next year.”