It isn’t just area firefighters that are deployed to communities throughout California to help protect communities during the state’s annual fire season.
Law enforcement has stepped up to help as well.
A number of Manteca Police officers have agreed to drive up to the Calder Fire – east of Placerville burning along Highway 50 – to help provide police presence and protection for evacuated communities to help thwart would-be looters and protect people from getting too close to the blaze.
With a different crew of officers driving up daily, the officers are on standby to help evacuate new communities if the need arises and patrolling threatened communities that have already been evacuated.
Last year looting was an ongoing problem at fires throughout California, with some residents refusing to evacuate in some places out of fear that they would lose their personal belongings even if the fire didn’t claim them, and others banding together to create makeshift patrol posses tasked with protecting people’s homes.
The Calder Fire is the largest wildfire currently burning near San Joaquin County and was the incident responsible for depositing ash on the windshields of many cars in the San Joaquin Valley last week when the winds carried it nearly 100 miles.
The Manteca Police are currently using volunteers to provide the necessary security staffing in the communities around the fire – employing a sign-up sheet for those interested in making the daily trek up to the site. The cost for the service will likely be reimbursed by the State of California through the state’s extensive Mutual Aid system.
Local firefighters are often deployed as members of Strike Teams assigned to perform a variety of different tasks to help control the fires and stop them from claiming lives and properties as they burn wide swaths of California’s wooded acreage.
The San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office has also been sending personnel to aid in the security and evacuation efforts at the fire – that is burning along the most direct route to Lake Tahoe and has drastically impacted the ability for Northern California residents to access the popular summer destination.
To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.
