By Ken D’Angelo
Life Member, Minoa Volunteer Fire Dept.
First of all let me apologize for the tardiness of this article. The month of May was a busy one for the members of the Minoa Volunteer Fire Department. In addition to responding to the normal workload of rescues and fires they were preparing for their annual “Field Days.” The preparation for running the field days pretty much eliminated training sessions and business meetings for May.
The department was called out to 42 alarms, totaling 269 hours of response time. This workload is more than double the average monthly effort. The reason for this was the wildland fire in Kirkville and several rekindles over three days. There was extensive television, radio and print coverage of this fire. Those words and pictures could not describe the extraordinary demands were put on the men and women of the Minoa Volunteer Fire Department and all of the other fire departments from the town of Manlius, the rest of Onondaga County and parts of Madison County.
The volunteers from Minoa worked for a little over eight hours fighting a battle for which they and the other departments had minimal training and less experience. Brush fires of four to 10 acres were and are a familiar experience. Wildfires of around 100 acres are a different problem altogether. The firefighters were hampered by a lack of access to water, a difficult walk through thick brush over rolling ground while carrying 60 to 70 pounds of gear just to get to the fire, dangerous fickle shifts of the wind and an initial shortage of manpower.
Firefighters carried on their backs a three-gallon supply of water in a bladder container with a back harness and hand pump. In addition to weighing about 30 pounds, it sloshes as you walk. This makes hiking over rough ground even more miserable. In addition they would be carrying axes, brooms, saws any other needed tools.
Too few all terrain vehicles would try to transport heavier equipment. There weren’t enough of these machines. Minoa firefighters were wearing their personal safety helmets, gloves, coats and pants which were designed for fighting structure fires. It is layered and heavy, weighing in at about 35 to 40 pounds. As such, they do a good job of insulating the wearer from fire, heat and scalding water but a poor job of releasing excess body heat as the result of heavy physical exertion. They are akin to wearing a portable sauna.
More than once a crew would be heading to an assigned area and be forced to retreat because a shift in the wind made the planned approach too risky. A walk of one-half to perhaps three-quarters of a mile could end up to be a mile to a mile and a half over rough, wooded terrain. It was a tough and dangerous job. They were taking a physical beating.
However, there were factors that worked in the favor of the crews on the fire line. The fire chiefs did have training in command and control of large widespread fires. A command center was set up. Sectional command centers were set to establish a flow of information back and forth to the line officers with the firefighters and the main command. Staging areas were established to efficiently assign newly arriving units where they were needed most. This led to some teams which were a blend of firefighters from different departments.
There could have been a team whose officer was from Minoa with a crew of firefighters from Minoa, Marcellus and Bridgeport. This worked because there is a commonality of the basic training that all volunteer firefighter receive. Also, the concept of teamwork is a part of most training scenarios. There were times when teams were told to back off because a change of wind direction put them in jeopardy. Then after the situation improved they went back into the fight. There were times when that all that kept a team going was the leadership and encouragement of their line officers. There were times when individuals found strength to continue beyond what they thought possible.
There were, thankfully, however no times when a firefighter was seriously or fatally injured. The fire was controlled. No homes were damaged or destroyed. Most importantly for the firefighters, they all went home.
