Cambria

Fire drill prepares crews for real-life threats

Emergency workers from across the county are set to practice their blaze-battling skills today

By Kathe Tanner

About 150 firefighters and other emergency personnel will converge in Cambria today for a wildland fire drill.

Homes nestled in the town’s forested hills, accessible only along narrow, easily blocked roadways, are particularly vulnerable to wildland fires.

Crews from most of the county’s cities and districts are expected to participate in the rehearsal, practicing their blaze-battling skills on mock fires and smoke.

CHP officers, deputies and members of the county’s Office of Emergency Services will also be part of the exercise, along with firefighting helicopters and an air-attack plane.

Emergency workers will hone crisis skills, coordinate efforts among agencies, investigate the incident, handle traffic and advise bystanders.

Nonprofessionals will be part of the drill, too, including residents of about 70 homes in neighborhoods throughout Cambria.

Volunteers from the Community Emergency Response Team and the Cambria Fire- Safe Focus Group will assist.

Participants will gather at the Cambria Grammar School about 7:30 a. m. for a briefing. The initial “attack” is expected to start about 9:15 a. m. on Sunbury Avenue and Suffolk and Northampton streets, followed by a response to the Fiscalini Ranch Preserve, across a rarely used emergency access road.

About 1 p. m., all engines are expected to use Berwick and Burton drives to reach a pretend blaze in a canyon on Randall Drive.

The drill is expected to end about 2 p. m., when crews will return to the school for a debriefing and a lunch donated by Cambria restaurants.

The San Luis Obispo County Training Officers’ Association is sponsoring the rehearsal. A federal grant and Homeland Security funds are paying for the exercise.