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The Angel Fire: Everything Worked
By Bobbi Zane
 | | View of the fire from the elementary school.
Photo by Julian resident Steve Retz |
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It was as though an angel was hovering around Julian on Saturday, Sept. 15 when a fire erupted in a remote section of Camp Stevens, next to the property line with Angels Landing, sending a frightening plume of white smoke over the town.
The smoke, alternating between white and brown and black, moved past town east along Wynola Road. Local firefighters from Julian-Cuyamaca and the CDF got to work immediately and moved the blaze away from targets in town and Whispering Pines and Kentwood 1.
When the fire started at about 1:30 p.m., the town was full of visitors with nearly 1,000 attending the Blue Grass Festival in Frank Lane Watershed, just over the hill from the ignition point. Therefore, the first order of business was to get the visitors out of the way of the firefighting crews. Authorities ordered the town site evacuated, using public address systems.
By mid-afternoon, the fire had jumped Highway 78 and was threatening houses on Whispering Pines Drive and Sunshine Trail, according to Kevin Dubler, chief of the Julian-Cuyamaca Fire Protection District, the local all-volunteer agency that tackles structure fires.
 | | The Angel Fire was fully contained Sept. 19 at 837 acres. The cost to fight the fire was $4,100,000, according to Roxanne Provaznik, CAL FIRE information officer. Photo by Julian resident Albie Stark |
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"Our teams were in the front line, keeping the fire out of Whispering Pines," he said. "We knew we had to get Whispering Pines and Kentwood 1 evacuated."
The reverse 911 system contacted all residences in the affected area.
Soon the worst was over.
By the time it was contained late Wednesday afternoon, the blaze had consumed 837 acres, the largest portion of which was on the south face of Volcan Mountain. It consumed one residence, 23 outbuildings, including five structures at Camp Stevens, and damaged one outbuilding.
Agencies fighting the fire included: The Julian-Cuyamaca Fire Protection District, CalFire (formerly California Division of Forestry), the Bureau of Land Management, and San Diego County Parks.
 | | Firefighters in Whispering Pines on September 15 at 2:30 p.m.
Photo by Darrel Kinney |
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Security and law enforcement were provided by the California Highway Patrol and San Diego County Sheriff's Department. Two local water agencies, Julian Community Services District and Majestic Pines Community Services District, provided more than 300,000 gallons of water to fight the fire.
Coordination among the agencies was covered during meetings at a command center every afternoon "to identify hot spots, needs and make crew assignments for the next day," Dubler said.
Management of the fire changed hands twice before the unified command station was set up. Local crews, led by Chris Cornette at CalFire and Dubler at Julian-Cuyamaca were the first responders, operating out of the Julian CalFire office. But help was needed, so Dubler put in a call for additional firefighters.
 | | A view in Whispering Pines, September 15 at 3 p.m.
Photo by Darrel Kinney |
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The local chiefs turned management over to CalFire incident commander Pete Sculley and operations manager Kevin O'Leary once they arrived from Valley Center.
First to arrive were strike crews from neighboring volunteer fire districts including Intermountain, Ocotillo Wells, Warner Springs, San Pasqual, Shelter Valley, Montezuma Valley and Pine Valley.
"The volunteers showed what they could do," Dubler observed, noting that "all the little districts are working together" so they can be effective when called upon.
As the day wore on, more strike crews began to arrive from more distant places, many from Orange and Los Angeles counties.
Dispatching these crews is the responsibility of the Southern Operations Center, which keeps a real-time record of all the available units in the state.
By Saturday evening, the firefighters were not ready to say the blaze was under control, but "it was not gaining ground," Dubler said.
A few days later, it was possible to step back and make an assessment of all the things that went right with the Angel fire.
Key to it all was the communication among all entities. The reverse 911 system worked, but there are some bugs and problems that need to be addressed. Dubler pointed out that many of the residences that got the call already had been vacated.
Most observers agree that the town evacuation could have gone more smoothly. Shopkeepers report that visitors, seemingly unaware of the danger, lingered while they
were trying to close up their businesses.
At a community meeting on Sunday night, the biggest complaints involved the inability of residents to get back into Whispering Pines and Kentwood once they evacuated.
Deputy sheriffs and CHP officers said they were ordered to keep the roads clear for firefighting equipment.
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