SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — Once upon a time, Justin Hardison could plan on a three-month firefighting season. It never crossed his mind that he might not spend Thanksgiving at home in Lolo, Mont.
But a few days ago, Hardison and firefighters Jeff Sabiol and Doug Knight got a call. Santa Ana winds were kicking up again in Southern California, and they were needed.
They packed their gear and spent most of three days driving. They arrived Monday, not looking forward to a Thanksgiving spent on the parking lot of the Orange Showgrounds.
Within miles was the San Bernardino National Forest, one of the most urbanized forests in America.
Thanksgiving marked the latest point in the year that Hardison had been called out in his eight years as a part-time firefighter, and the trip meant his 2007 fire season will run for six months.
“I can’t say if this is going to be the pattern,” said Hardison, who works for A-1 Fire Service, a private wildland firefighting company in Lolo, a suburb of Missoula. But “conditions are getting worse and worse. Things are getting hotter and drier.”
The guys from A-1 joined hundreds of others from across the West who gave up their holiday to assemble to protect Southern California in case of fire.
Despite early-morning fog, forecasts called for low humidity and gusting winds of up to 45 mph for today and Saturday.
So, stung by the raging wildfires of October, regional fire officials this week called down more firefighters and engines than they could confidently count Thursday, spreading them from San Diego to Ventura counties.
Firefighters came in from Mount Lemmon and the Groom Creek Fire District in Arizona, from Upper Pine River, Colo., and from Fort Bragg and Oakdale in California.
The Zuni Hotshots, legendary Indian fire-line cutters, came in from New Mexico.
The farthest-flung contingent consisted of five engines from companies across Montana.
Southern California has had little rain in two years, so these days, the region hardly ever goes out of fire season, said Jim Wilkins, the San Bernardino operations center spokesman.
