BLAZE BUSTERS SANTA YNEZ CHUMASH OFFER WILDLAND FIREFIGHTER TRAINING
NORA K. WALLACE, NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
May 13, 2007 6:17 AM
Hoping to become a national resource in the world of wildland firefighting, the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians has started its own training program.
For the past several summers, the tribe has quietly been training small teams of men and women to become certified wildland firefighters -- a specialty career that will send them into the most rugged of fire situations, and potentially create long-term careers in firefighting.
With dire predictions being voiced about a particularly vicious summer ahead for wildland blazes in the West, Chumash fire officials will soon take possession of a Type 3 fire engine. It is being purchased new and will be housed in a metal structure soon to be built on reservation property between the casino resort and the tribal administrative offices on Highway 246.
The training program will eventually be staffed by five people -- three full-time and two seasonal employees. Its development was part of a series of initiatives created within the tribe's Environmental Office since 1998, said Vincent Armenta, Chumash chairman. Participants do not have to be of Chumash descent.
"We created the fire program for a number of reasons, which include job creation and providing fire protection for the reservation and other federal lands," Mr. Armenta explained.
The Chumash would not disclose the amount of funding the tribe is providing for the program.
Chumash tribal member J.P. Zavala serves as fire management officer. He's been on board since May 2006, and brings a host of credentials fighting wildland, or forest, fires. For 17 years, Mr. Zavala fought blazes with the U.S. Forest Service, including a four-year stint as a hotshot member with the LosPadresNational Forest crew, and about nine years as a smokejumper in Montana and Idaho. He came back to Santa Ynez last year.
"Starting up a new program is a huge challenge," said Mr. Zavala, whose father, Pete, is a tribal liaison for the LosPadresNational Forest. "We're looking to be a national resource."
The program is largely unknown in the area, and has been low-profile since its start three years ago. Fire training on the reservation began about 10 years ago with a grant from the Bureau of Indian Affairs for weed abatement and fuels management, explained Willie Wyatt, the tribe's environmental manager. About three years ago, Mr. Wyatt and others began evaluating an expansion of the program, largely as a way to create employment.
In the first two years, about 50 people took the entry level fire certification class, Mr. Wyatt said.
The Chumash fire program, Mr. Wyatt said, is not seeking to break into residential, or urban, firefighting. Nor will it intrude upon county fire responsibilities, he said. Once fully outfitted and staffed, the crew will be dispatched to natural disasters, large-scale wildfires, forest fires and other off-site jobs. The priority will be larger fires.
"The tribe is making a significant investment in the garage, the fire engine, equipment, staff," Mr. Wyatt said. "We'll also be another resource available during the off-season."
Officials with the Santa Barbara County Fire Department did not return calls for comment.
As the small Chumash program has ramped up, trainees have cut fire suppression lines on the Tule River Reservation and been a part of the initial attack crew on 12 wildland fires last year at the Tule reservation in the foothills of the Sierra NevadaMountains. This summer, the team is in negotiations to send a detail of five people to the Navajo reservation in Arizona, in anticipation of the bad fire season, Mr. Zavala said.
Kathy Good, a spokeswoman for LosPadresNational Forest, noted that there are numerous Native American fire crews across the nation.
"We welcome them as a resource locally and elsewhere," Ms. Good said. "They'll be available to respond to incidents once they're up and running and certified. It's a great opportunity. It's good for us and good for them."
During the past week, the newest batch of about 18 recruits trekked through the brush-covered hills of UCSB's Sedgwick Reserve, hoisting heavy packs and tools while cutting defensive fire lines.
The students are taking the 32-hour course to learn about fire behavior, tool and water handling, fire weather, fire shelter deployment and a variety of other skills needed when combating rough terrain blazes. Each student has to pass a pack test, hiking three miles carrying 45 pounds of equipment in 45 minutes.
On a recent morning at the Sedgwick, with temperatures expected to reach into the 80s, the trainees hiked uphill through sagebrush as Mr. Zavala and two other fire crew bosses barked out orders. Urged to quickly cut a fire break, the leaders admonished the trainees to drink enough water and to create enough space between one another when using the sharp-edged Pulaskis and McLeods to break the soil. They climbed ant-like in a single-file line up and down the hill.
Armin Hernandez was so pumped up with adrenaline and physical exertion that he leaned over his axlike cutting tool and vomited.
"It ain't firefighting unless you're puking," Mr. Zavala yelled out.
His fellow crew leader chimed in, "It's just weakness leaving the body."
The object of their chiding didn't seem bothered, as he jogged his way back to the fellow trainees.
"I'm just pumped up," Mr. Hernandez said of his momentarily illness. "That's me putting my 110 percent in."
Mr. Hernandez, 27, is of Chumash descent and lives on the reservation in Santa Ynez. He's been working with the Chumash fire crews for three years but has not yet fought any wildland blazes. He's hoping to earn one of the permanent crew slots, which will allow him to leave his job as a clerk-manager at a deli and store.
"It's pretty awesome," he said of the fire training. "It's something the reservation needs. I'm happy to be a part of it. I'd like to do it full time."
On a recent day of training, the participants were men ranging in age from their early 20s to early 30s. One was a student at Santa BarbaraCityCollege, urged to join the team by his uncle. Another was a 30-year-old from Hemet, who is attending college and is hoping to become a firefighter.
"This ain't summer camp," yelled Stan Vigil, as the crew stood clustered together, taking a break. "Take your helmets off and pour a little bit of water over yourself to cool off, if you're getting overheated. Really monitor yourselves when you're out here."
Crews will continue training year-round, said Vince Montes, who will serve as the program's engineer once the fire truck arrives in July.
This was his first week on the job, after being lured away from the U.S. Forest Service, where he worked on an engine company in the Los Prietos area. He is a member of the Tuolumne tribe.
"It's an excellent program," he said of the wildland certification. "It gets the kids working. Most of them are straight out of high school. It's a good opportunity to get out and travel the U.S."
He sees the Chumash program as a potential backup for other crews in the region, especially with the predictions of a busy fire season.
"The Forest Service has hand crews, but they can be gone," if a fire breaks out, Mr. Montes explained. "We'll always have a crew here. It's nice to have another resource if something does happen in the Santa Ynez Valley."