San Bernardino National Forest
The San Bernardino National Forest is a United States National Forest in Southern California encompassing of which are federal. The forest is made up of two main divisions, the eastern portion of the San Gabriel Mountains and the San Bernard ...
. The fire started on June 17, 2015 and burned over 31,359 acres before it was fully contained on July 21, 2015.
The fire was first reported at 4 p.m. on June 17, 2015 just South of Big Bear Lake in
San Bernardino County
San Bernardino County (), officially the County of San Bernardino, is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California, and is located within the Inland Empire area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 2,181, ...
, and grew extremely quickly in the surrounding densely wooded mountain areas at an elevation of between 6,000 to 9,000 feet. At around 1,500 acres
Aerial firefighting
Aerial may refer to:
Music
* ''Aerial'' (album), by Kate Bush
* ''Aerials'' (song), from the album ''Toxicity'' by System of a Down
Bands
*Aerial (Canadian band)
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Performance art
* Aerial sil ...
operations had begun including approximately eight tankers and a
DC-10 Air Tanker
The DC-10 Air Tanker is a series of American wide-body jet air tankers, which have been in service as an aerial firefighting unit since 2006. The aircraft, operated by the joint technical venture 10 Tanker Air Carrier, are converted wide body M ...
from
Medford, Oregon
Medford is a city in and the county seat of Jackson County, Oregon, in the United States. As of the 2020 United States Census on April 1, 2020, the city had a total population of 85,824 and a metropolitan area population of 223,259, making the M ...
loaded with 11,600 gallons of Fire retardant. But due to heavy smoke, aerial operations were having trouble seeing the blaze but estimated that if left unrestrained, the area it could burn in two days could exceed 50,000 acres. With the help of firefighting and fire prevention efforts the actual two day fire progress reached about 15,000 acres. An additional two tankers had been brought in to help combat the fire, but were soon grounded along with the others due to there not being enough firefighters on the ground to take advantage of the retardant.
Under the Command Incident Commander Norm Walker, over 1,900 firefighters fought tirelessly against the blaze aided by aerial operations. On June 24th a hobby drone
Quadcopter
A quadcopter or quadrotor is a type of helicopter with four rotors.
Although quadrotor helicopters and convertiplanes have long been flown experimentally, the configuration remained a curiosity until the arrival of the modern UAV or drone. T ...
flying in the area forced air operations to shut down immediately as a collision between the drone and aircraft could be fatal to those onboard.
United States Forest Service
The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency in ...
Aviation Officer Mike Eaton said a tactical group supervisor flying an aircraft at 11,500 feet spotted the drone flying between his plane and another firefighting plane flying at 10,500 feet. Eaton said the presence of the drone kept firefighters from delivering 5,000 gallons of fire retardant on the flames and shut down subsequent missions that could have contained a part of the fire.
Later that day, the
San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department
The San Bernardino County Sheriff-Coroner's Department (SBSD) serves San Bernardino County, California, which is geographically the largest county in the United States (excluding Alaska's boroughs) and is headquartered in San Bernardino city. ...
initiated a mandatory evacuation for the Burns Canyon and Rimrock areas. More evacuations soon followed as the burn area reached approximately 30,000 acres, and included areas along Hwy 38 east of Angelus Oaks, Barton Flats, Seven Oaks, South Fork, Heart Bar and Rainbow Lane.
As of June 26th firefighting resources on scene included: 153
Fire engine
A fire engine (also known in some places as a fire truck or fire lorry) is a road vehicle (usually a truck) that functions as a firefighting apparatus. The primary purposes of a fire engine include transporting firefighters and water to an ...
s, 4 air tankers (including one DC-10), 18 helicopters, 4 support fixed wing planes, 54 handcrews, 18
Water Tender
A water tender is a type of firefighting apparatus that specialises in the transport of water from a water source to a fire scene.Bulldozers, and 2,116 personnel. Around this time the containment fell from 27% to 19%.
As July 2nd rolled around, the majority of the fire had reached a containment level of 70% and the U.S. Forest Service reduced the personnel deployed to fight the blaze to just more than 1,400, down from nearly 2,300 personnel assigned to the fire just a few days before.
By July 13, 2015,
fire investigation
Fire investigation, sometimes referred to as origin and cause investigation, is the analysis of fire-related incidents. After firefighters extinguish a fire, an investigation is launched to determine the origin and cause of the fire or explosion ...
s had determined that human activity - likely arson- was the cause of the blaze that destroyed at least 4 buildings and over 30,000 acres. On July 21 the fire was fully contained and while there were no fatalities or serious injuries, 6 minor injuries were reported during the battle with the inferno. The operation to control the blaze cost $39.9 million.