LAKESIDE, Calif. (KGTV) – The Coches Fire near a mobile home park fire in Lakeside was knocked down from the ground and the air.
“We ordered additional air and ground resources right off the bat to try to get ahead of that curve and keep that fire as small as possible,” Cpt. Mike Cornette of Cal Fire San Diego said. “Having that aircraft is essential in our firefight.”
It got hit with water drop after water drop as crews fought to keep the fire contained to a little more than five acres.
“That's our goal is to keep 95% of fires,10 acres or less. So, we're using that aircraft to try to slow down those flames or even extinguish those flames,” Cornette said.
Cornette said some of the helicopters used for the dire water drops were from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office.
“We're working with our helicopters, making sure that we've got all the helicopters that we need. Luckily, the Gillespie Air Base, our heli-base, is right over the hill from there, and we had Lake Jennings,” Cornette said. “So, it was very easy for the helicopters to respond and be able to deliver water efficiently.”
ABC 10News spoke with Lt. Gavin Lanning from the Sheriff’s Office, who oversees the ASTERA helicopter unit for the agency, at Gillespie Air Base.
“So, this is our Bell 205. This went yesterday as Copter 12, and over there is our Bell 412, which went as Copter 11,” Lanning said. “What we are trying to do is get our heli-attack crew and water on the fire as quickly as possible anywhere in San Diego County.”
Both Lanning and Cornette said part of being able to dump as much water as they could on the Coches Fire was in part due to where it happened.
“You never want the fire to happen. But the fact that it was so close, with Lake Jennings so close and nearby, allowed us to get a lot of water on the fire very quickly,” Lanning said.
Lanning said that proximity helped with the timeliness of the drops.
“Absolutely. You’re doing two full bags of fuel, constantly dropping water. There was a total of 39 water drops. So, 39 times these two helicopters dropped a tank full of water yesterday in about two hours or less,” Lanning said.
Crucial tools that could be stopped for something out of their control.
“Any time that we have to cancel that or stop that, such as a drone incursion or something like that, is going to not only affect us, but it's going to affect the fire behavior and potentially destroy additional houses in its path,” Cornette said.
