Southern Humboldt Hosts Historically Large Fire Training

“What you’re seeing here now is history in the making,” Diana Totten, a local fire leader and native woman, told Lauren Schmitt of KMUD News. She was describing this Sunday’s Wildland Firefighter Academy at the Southern Humboldt Community Park near Garberville where Cal Fire provided a helicopter to help create a simulation of a wildfire incident so that those attending could improve their skills and gain needed accreditations.

Not only did the largest class ever train (131 new firefighters graduated) but the first ever Southern Humboldt all-First People firefighting crew was founded.

Briceland Fire spokesperson Camilo Stevenson said in a press release that the  “RT-130” training is required to complete the National Wildfire Coordinating Group certification of new Type 2 firefighters from the Southern Humboldt Wildland Fire Academy, and “also is an annual skills and safety refresher for all fire service members.”

At the event, Diana Totten told KMUD’s Lauren Schmitt, “[W]e have 16 volunteer fire departments from around Southern Humboldt that are represented here. We have 18 local Native Americans that are getting together a cultural, fire crew, cultural burning crew. And we have a lot of Humboldt County Prescribed Burn Association folks, as well as Cal Fire represented here. And so there’s a broad spectrum of people, and to watch them all working…in just an absolutely wonderful choreography… .”

Lauren Schmitt of KMUD News graciously shared her reporting on the training with us. She was on the scene and spoke with participants and has a much more detailed report below.

KMUD News took a large number of photos of participants also. Click on the images to enlarge.

https://www.facebook.com/KmudNews/posts/pfbid0332g8CrdwhojXLMeMHH9Vnum6favHPAxCRrmb7ZVYQjCTwoN2WwAEvvR1wEtuKDkNl