7/30 Ortega Fire

1535 dispatched to ortega and nicholas rd. 25acres multi aircraft. Echs took right flank tied into a old dozer line. Orange county was also on scene. Back in station at 2130.

7/18 Pamo Fire

Echs dispatched at 1130 to palomar area to a fire called Pamo Fire. Fire was 6ac. Fire was out just needed line and mop up. Released at 2000. Back in station. With sun/mon off.

7/11 yankee fire

elcariso hotshots were dispatched today at 1423 toa fire in camp pendleton, ca-mcp-yankee . about 500 acres give or take. echs got on scene and started on the burn operation on div Z. finished at 2035... and headed back to station. off sunday and monday hoping for a rescourse order this weekend.

7/7 Back in station @ 2100

Back in station from the tujunga fire. Tujunga fire was 10 mins away from the Loop fire. The crew stoped by to pay respects to fellow crew members on there way home.

7/6 Tujunga Fire

130 acres 85% contained . Fire is in the angeles national forest-little tujunga canyon. IC is Byron Kimball. steep and rugged terrain difficult access. Rollin at 5am. hoping to make morning briefing.

Fourth of July

ECHS worked their holiday today. Fire traffic was slow over the radio. ECHS worked around the station awaiting the call. @1800 no calls, and off the clock, and headed home.

San Vicente 7/3

San Vicente dam fire burning at 10 acres. ECHS were 15 minutes away when they got cancelled by San Vicente operations and ic at 1619. ECHS back in station at 1800.

De Luz Fire 7/2

1421 El Cariso got dispatched to the de luz fire. Arrived on scene at 1505. Fire looked to be about 40 acres burning down slop, driven by a west wind into industrial buildings. ECHS started on right flake then moved to the left flake, with 3 other inmate crews. ECHS leap froged eachother for a faster progress. Line tired in at 2024. Headed back to station @2150. Instation @2300.

Los Pinos Fire 6/3-6/4/09

At 930am on 6/3 lightning strike in hot springs canyon. 22 hiking in from the bottom starting at lazy W. 21 hiking from the top from falken camp ground. 5.5 hr hike in to the fire. El cariso spent the night on it. 6/4 at 1600 H-538 picked up echs at H-1 back to los pinos softball field.

Available!!

The crew finished their refresher training and are now available for dispatch for the 2009 fire season.

Any Old Ducks out there??

For anybody who has worked on El Cariso, we are looking for old pictures and some past history on the crew. So if anyone has some pics and info, post a comment...

Season is over!!

The crew returned home on Saturday November 29th. The seasonal fire fighters have been laid off for the winter. Now it is time for the winter work to begin (preparing fuel breaks for prescribe fire operations and other winter projects). The season ended on a good note with another safe and busy fire season.

Georgia Georgia Georgia...

We had a bit of rain a few days after arrival and now we are doing project work for the local district. ECHS has been preparing for an 1,800 acre prescribed fire. The crew is clearing brush and taking out a lot of dead trees (snaging). The crew plans to burn it off soon.

Off to Georgia!!

The crew was ordered up on Nov.12th to the Woody Creek fire located in Dahlonega, GA about 100 miles north of Atlanta. The fire is located on the Chattahoochee-Oconee NF in the state of Georgia. The crew flew out of Ontario Airport early Thursday morning in route to Atlanta,GA.

Juliett Fire.

The crew was dispatched to the Juliett Fire on Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base 9 miles north east of Oceanside, CA. The fire was fueled by Santa Ana winds and dry fuels. The fire threatened the cities of Oceanside and Fallbrook. The fire was pretty much done by the time ECHS got on sceen, so mop-up was our assignement for two shifts.

Home....

ECHS was released from the Chalk incident on Wednesday the 8th. The crew was assigned to structure protection and also did some burn out operations. Some rain came through the area and really slowed things down, then we started cutting direct hand line.The fire was not fully contained nor was our 14 days up, but south zone wanted all resources back to their home unit in preperation for the hot weather and the arrivals of some santa ana winds.

Off to the LP

ECHS got assigned to the Chalk Fire in the Los Padres National Forest. This fire is near the first assignment of the year, the Indians Fire. Located on the northern part of the LP, 22 mi southwest of King City, CA east of Hwy 1. As of now the fire is 1708 acres and 5% contained. The fuels consist of oak and brush. Large volume of dead and down material in fire fuel bed with terrain difficulty extreme. No prior recorded fire history in area of involvement.

Slowing Down

The fire season has started to slow down alot in this last month. ECHS was assigned to a fire on the Shasta-Trinity N.F. then re-assigned to the Sierra N.F. and now are on the Hidden fire in the Sequoia & Kings Canyon NP. ECHS has been out for 12 days and should be returning home soon. We will post pictures of the recent fires so check back in a few days or so....

PLEASE SUPPORT THE WILDLAND FIREFIGHTER FOUNDATION

We would like to remind you that we are a strong supporter of the Wildland Firefighter Foundation. We would ask that you go to their website and either join the 52 club ($52 a year) or what ever your heart wants to donate. Below is a description of the organization. They are very much involved in all the curent fatalities that have occured and any donations would greatly help the families who have recently lost their loved ones in the line of duty. Please click on the logo below to be sent to the link....

Tragity on the Buckhorn Fire!!

There was a report of a helicopter down on the Buckhorn Fire while the crew was in route back home. It was a Sikorsky S-61 helicopter which the crew had been flying in, on the previous days. The heicopter went down at the north end of the 15,848-acre Buckhorn Fire, in the same division the crew had been working on. Reports say that the helicopter crashed and burned Tuesday night, leaving four fire personnel in critical condition. No word on the extent of those injuries at this time.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the fire fighters and their families.

More Information is available at LA Times and at this site LA Times story 2

Leaving Nor Cal

ECHS was released from the Buckhorn Fire on Tuesday August 5. The crew will be driving home Tuesday and Wednesday with R&R on Thursday/Friday.

Iron Complex

The crew is assigned to the Buckhorn Fire which is part of the Iron Complex. This fire is on the Shasta/Trinity NF about 10 miles west of Junction City,CA. The terrain is extremely difficult with grass, brush and heavy timber fuel types. The Buckhorn fire is 10,205 acres and 21% contained at this time. Today the crew will be working on Div. F with the Los Padres Hotshots, constructing line from prairie creek road toward tremlor ridge.
Buckhorn Fire Location

Assignment to the STF

ECHS was assigned to the French Fire in the city of Jamestown,CA. This was a state fire about 100 acres. The crew cut a little line and the fire was done. Now driving toward Redding,CA as of 10:40am on the 24th of July, no assignment at this time.

Headed to Nor Cal

The crew was called up on our days off and heading to Northern California. As of now we are not assigned to a specific fire. We will update when new info is available. There are currently 22 uncontained large fires in the northern cal area.

Pics from recent fires..more to come

Home For R&R

The crew returned home last night from a 16 day tour. The Gap fire burned a total of 9,443 acres. We hiked in the first day and had our gear flown to us for a three night, four day spike. The crew cut some good line for three days, then it was patrol and mop-up. The terrain was difficult, steep rocky and very thick brush along with the dreaded poison oak . With a total of four fires on this assignment the crew is looking forward to the days off. We will be available for a new assignment on Thursday the 17th of July. You can click on the link above "Home For R&R" to see the location of the Gap Fire.

On to another fire..

Just got released from the Ridge fire and now re assigned to the Gap fire, which is located six miles northwest of Santa Barbara, CA. Numerous communities, cultural and historical resources and power lines threatened. Evacuations in effect. 8,694 acres and 28% contained.

Reassigned

The crew was releasd from the Star fire which was part of the Silver complex. ECHS flew in to the fire and spiked out for four nights. The crew was re assigned to the Yankee fire on Camp Pendleton M.C.B. The fire was about 100 acres and then we got re assigned again to the Ridge fire on the San Bernardino N.F. in th city of Yucipa.

We Are gone again......

The crew was ordered to the Silver Complex, a fire assignment on the Sierra National Forest. The fire is located 15 east of Oakhurst, CA just south west of Yosemite N.P. We are to report to the Hotshot camp tomorrow morning the 28th of June at 0930.

Indians Fire

ECHS just returned home from a 14 day assignment on the Indians Fire located about 20 miles west of Kings City on the Los Padres National Forest. On this assignment the crew was assigned to many different parts of the fire where we did everything from line construction( not too much) to structure protection and then assigned to the "Burn Group" where we did a lot of firing operations with hand held firing devices and the use of the heli-torch. There was very steep terrain, and lots of poison oak!! We had a few guys get oak shots and had a few minor hand injuries, but over all it was a pretty good assignment. The new guys think the Hotshots are all fun and games, just wait. We will have 2 days of R&R (thrs/fri) and most likely get reassigned to another fire in the nor cal area.

millard fire 2006