Assistant Chief Wes Arvin of the UC Davis Fire Department is leading a Yolo County strike team that went to work Sept. 7 on the mammoth Station fire in the Angeles National Forest.
Arvin departed for Southern California on Sept. 6, two days after four other UC Davis firefighters returned safe and sound from a brief assignment on the 1,159-acre Oak Glen 3 wildfire in San Bernardino County.
Chancellor Linda Katehi greeted Capt. Davis Stiles, engineer Terry Weisser, and Jon Poganski and Nathan Potter upon their return at 5:45 p.m. Sept. 4. The four had been gone since Aug. 31, dispatched in a firetruck that belongs to the state Office of Emergency Services. The truck, designated OES 251, is UC Davis’ to use —except when the state needs the truck and a crew. For the Oak Glen 3 fire, the state dispatched OES 251 and Winters’ OES 333 as part of a southern San Joaquin Valley strike team.
The Arvin-led strike team’s assignment on the Station fire was expected to last through this week. The team comprises five trucks, one each from the city of Davis, Woodland, Willow Oak (outside of Woodland), West Sacramento and the Rumsey Rancheria.
Arvin reported that his 20-person team was taking care of hot spots and flare-ups, in support of hand crews on the east flank of the fire, due east of Mount Wilson.
As of 7 a.m. Sept. 10, fire officials listed the size of the Station blaze at 160,357 acres and reported that it was 71 percent contained.
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Dave Jones, Dateline, 530-752-6556, dljones@ucdavis.edu