From a Native Village Site to the Fireline: Southern Humboldt’s Wildland Readiness Drill Builds Skills, Community and a Future for this Rural Area

Firefighters learn about working with Cal Fire aircraft at Sunday’s Wildland Readiness Drill in Southern Humboldt. [Photo by Laura Lassiter, generously shared by the Southern Humboldt Business & Visitor’s Bureau]

On a grassy hillside west of Garberville, beneath the thump of helicopter rotors and the shouts of firefighters hauling hose up steep slopes, close to 200 people spent Saturday preparing for fires they hope never reach their communities.

But the Wildland Readiness Drill was about more than wildfire preparedness. What began 25 years ago as a training for a handful of volunteer firefighters has grown into a regional effort to strengthen local fire departments, create pathways to well-paying wildfire jobs, bring outside money into Southern Humboldt and build the relationships communities depend on during disasters.

Across the Southern Humboldt Community Park, crews dug handline, deployed fire shelters, practiced communications while helicopters landed nearby. Firefighters from different departments trained side-by-side, sharing meals, swapping stories and preparing for a the ever increasing fire season that has become a part of life in California.

Diana Totten and Perry Lincoln at the event.

According to Perry Lincoln, executive director of Native Health in Native Hands and a leading advocate for Indigenous stewardship of the region’s ancestral homelands, and Diana Totten, a veteran firefighter who has spent decades bridging the worlds of wildfire response and cultural fire, the Southern Humboldt Community Park sits on the site of a former Native village. On Saturday, the land once again became a gathering place as firefighters, Native cultural fire practitioners, instructors, emergency managers and trainees came together from across the region.

Pulling together an event of this size requires months of planning. Briceland Fire Chief Aurora Studebaker led this year’s effort, coordinating instructors, aircraft, engines, support personnel and approximately 150 participants along with dozens of volunteers and support staff.

Chief Aurora Studebaker recruiting young firefighters. [Photo by Laura Lassiter, generously shared by the Southern Humboldt Business & Visitor’s Bureau]

Hosted by Briceland Volunteer Fire Department with support from neighboring departments and regional partners, the annual Wildland Readiness Drill included RT-130 annual wildland firefighter refresher training and NWCG field exercises.

For Diana Totten, a longtime firefighter, former Humboldt County Citizen of the Year and advocate for Indigenous fire stewardship, the gathering represented the latest chapter in a story that began nearly a quarter century ago.

It started in 2001, she said, after beloved Southern Humboldt fire leader Tim Olsen shared a vision for creating a stronger wildland firefighting force among local volunteer departments.

At the time, many rural departments focused primarily on structure fires and medical calls. Wildland firefighting training opportunities were limited.

The first training class attracted only eight or nine participants.

“Everybody could go out and squirt water on a fire,” Totten recalled. “But to do it effectively and safely is a whole different world.”

Over the next quarter century, that small training effort evolved into something far larger.

“Over 25 years it’s become huge,” Totten said. “In fact, I believe this is the largest RT-130 in the nation and … put together all by volunteer firefighters.”

Group photo taken at the event. [Photo by Kym Kemp]

One of the things Totten finds most rewarding is seeing former students become instructors.

“I had some of the people in the first training classes that are now teaching these evolutions,” she said. “They’re doing a knockout job.”

The growth of the event mirrors broader changes within Southern Humboldt’s fire service.

Telegraph Ridge Fire Chief Tanner Speas, who served as planning section chief for this year’s drill, said organizers intentionally designed the exercise to replicate the command structures used on major incidents.

“If you go to a large incident with the Forest Service or Cal Fire, you’re going to find a situation like this,” Speas said. “We’re practicing our skills and basically replicating a real incident on a smaller scale.”

Participants worked within a full incident command structure that included command staff, planning, logistics, operations and finance sections, creating an environment that closely resembles the systems used during major wildfires.

For Camillo Stevenson, public information officer for both Briceland Fire Department and the event, one of the most important outcomes has been strengthening relationships among departments that once operated more independently.

The training originally grew from Briceland’s efforts to keep firefighters qualified for assignments supporting Cal Fire during busy fire seasons. As neighboring departments became interested, participation expanded.

“We quickly realized that we had neighbors that were interested in doing the same thing,” Stevenson said.

Over time, those partnerships evolved into something deeper.

“There was in the past almost a sense of competition,” Stevenson said. “I think that we’re breaking that down over time. I really feel like there’s a lot less of that and more of a feeling of family, like Southern Humboldt as a group coming together.”

That sense of regional cooperation was visible throughout the day as firefighters from different departments trained side-by-side, shared meals and learned from one another.

Among them were Perry Lincoln and seven firefighters from Hoopa associated with Native Health in Native Hands, the Indigenous-led organization Lincoln founded to reconnect Native communities with traditional ecological knowledge, cultural practices and stewardship of the land.

Lincoln — who has Wailaki, Yuki and Pomo ancestry — has become a leading advocate for restoring Indigenous fire knowledge in the region. Native Health in Native Hands has helped train Native firefighters and cultural burn practitioners while promoting the use of “good fire” to improve ecosystem health and community resilience.

Totten has worked closely with Lincoln in recent years as cultural fire practices increasingly intersect with modern wildfire preparedness and fuels management.

For many participants, the certifications earned during events like Saturday’s can open doors to paid wildfire assignments throughout California.

Jack Hargrave, battalion chief with Shelter Cove Fire, said one of the original goals behind Southern Humboldt’s push for additional training and equipment was to expose local firefighters to large wildfire operations before they faced those conditions at home.

“The first big fire our people see should not be coming over the hill into Shelter Cove,” Hargrave said. “[I]t kind of gets that ‘oh, crap!’ moment out of you.”

Strike-team deployments allow firefighters to gain experience on major incidents while earning wages and bringing revenue back to their departments.

Hargrave said the long-term goal is to consistently field strike teams composed entirely of Southern Humboldt engines and personnel.

“The whole hope behind getting…the new type six engines that the senator was able to provide the funding for is we’d be able to send out a strike team or possibly two strike teams all comprised of Southern Humboldt engines.” 

He then explained, “A two-week assignment on a strike team can bring in about a half a million dollars to the local area.”

This year’s drill also showcased a growing fleet of Type 6 fire engines acquired through a combination of Senator Mike McGuire’s Type 6 Engine Project and Humboldt County Measure Z funding. Fire leaders hope those engines will continue expanding Southern Humboldt’s ability to respond locally and deploy statewide.[Photo by Laura Lassiter, generously shared by the Southern Humboldt Business & Visitor’s Bureau]

Departments receive reimbursement for apparatus and personnel. Firefighters earn income. Skills gained on major incidents return home with experienced crews. Much of that money ultimately gets spent locally, helping support businesses and strengthening rural communities still adapting to economic changes following cannabis legalization.

“It gets our people training that they’re not going to be exposed to here locally, as well as the benefit of bringing in plenty of money for the local area,” Hargrave said.

Supervisor Michelle Bushnell was among those attending the event, which was funded in part through Humboldt County’s Measure Z public safety tax. The investment supports more than firefighter training. Organizers say the certifications earned at events like this one help local firefighters qualify for strike-team deployments that bring experience, wages and reimbursement dollars back to Southern Humboldt communities and fire departments.

Petrolia Fire Lieutenant Christian Calinsky, serving as a public information officer trainee during the event, spent the day documenting operations and learning emergency communications — one example of how the training is helping develop the next generation of fire-service leadership.

By day’s end, firefighters had earned certifications, practiced skills and strengthened relationships.

Twenty-five years after Totten helped train a handful of volunteers, former students now teach the next generation. Departments that once trained separately now operate as a region. Young firefighters are becoming engine bosses, strike-team leaders and instructors.

What began as a small volunteer training has become something much larger — a community investment in Southern Humboldt’s future.