SAN DIEGO, Ca. - Army National Guard helicopters were attacking southern California's ferocious wildfires, and Guard Soldiers on the ground were manning traffic control points and were prepared to provide people who had lost their homes with some of the necessities of life here Wednesday, Oct. 24.
The newspaper headline "Help From Above" summed up how aircraft, including National Guard helicopters carrying big Bambi water buckets, were trying to bring under control the firestorm that has forced some 500,000 residents to flee the devastated, seven-county region since last weekend.
"This is true and pure homeland defense. This is my home. This is what I joined to do," said California Army Guard 1st Lt. Robi Yucas, who was coordinating the Guard's aviation assets here even as his wife and daughter and dog were preparing to evacuate their fire-threatened home in Oceanside.
Yucas, from the 1st Battalion, 140th Aviation, was part of the National Guard crew that was diverted from the Operation Jump Start mission to deter illegal aliens from crossing the California-Mexican border into this country to support the firefighting mission.
Four UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters were dispatched from the border mission to support the California Department of Forestry, and two more Blackhawks and two larger CH-47 Chinooks were expected to fly in Wednesday.
The aircraft attacking the flames were the most visible part of the firefighting mission, and the Guard helicopters were expected to be flying water-drop missions all day.
A California Guard S-70 Firehawk, specially designed for firefighting missions, was also expected to join the battle against the inferno of a dozen fires that, by Wednesday, had scorched 600 square miles and destroyed a reported 1,800 homes.
It prompted the largest evacuation in California history, from north of Los Angeles to the Mexican border, the Associated Press reported.
Meanwhile, 1,500 Soldiers from the California Guard's 40th Infantry Brigade Combat Team conducted presence patrols to prevent looting, manned traffic control points and prepared to assist people at the Qualcomm Stadium and the Del Mar Fairgrounds in San Diego. The Guard Soldiers were supporting the San Diego County sheriff's department.
"(This has) been probably the most proactive response to a domestic event that I have seen in my 40 years in uniform," said LTG H Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau. "And we continue to be flexible and agile to meet the needs of Gov. Schwarzenegger and the citizens of California as they're ravaged by what is a very dangerous and unpredictable fire."
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday directed that 1,500 Guard troops be made available for the firefighting mission.
About 70 Guard Soldiers were on duty at the stadium where large stockpiles of water, food and clothing were ready for the displaced people who needed them.
Some of the Guard Soldiers were pulled off border duty to help with the firefighting mission and for their own safety from the fires.
The Air National Guard was expected to reinforce the fight from the air with four C-130 Modular Airborne Fire Fighting Systems (MAFFS) from North Carolina and Wyoming. The planes that drop large amounts of fire retardant were set to be staged at the Naval Air Station Point Mugu in California.
"The size of this operation is enormous compared to every other MAFFS mission I've done," said Air Guard Lt. Col. Brian Ratchford, an aircraft commander with North Carolina's 145th Airlift Wing. "The size of the response, the size of the fire is so much larger than I have ever seen."
Ratchford, who has been flying since 1987, has flown missions during Operation Just Cause in Panama in 1987, during the first Gulf War and during Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. He has been a MAFFS pilot with the 145th since 1991.
"We hope to fly as many missions as we can and drop as much retardant as we can. I would like to see all the fires out before we leave," Ratchford said.
"Personally, this is really challenging flying, but it's also very gratifying. These aircraft are built for war but are being used in support of American citizens and their property," he added. "I believe in every mission the Air National Guard has undertaken. It is especially gratifying to help people protect their homes and property."