LIGONIER, Pa. — A Ligonier native — and a former firefighter at Ligonier Station 43 — is out in California helping fight the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles. While he was in Ligonier, he fought fires from the ground.
But now, he’s doing so from the skies.
Captain RK Smithley is one of several firefighters working to help put out the raging wildfires fom the air. He works for 10 Tanker — an aerial firefighting company — and has for the last 11 years.
“We’ve flown fire in Australia, Chile, Mexico in January. We have never flown fire in the United States in January,” Smithley told Channel 11′s Andrew Havranek. “This one, because of the devastation, is cataclysmic, really.”
Smithley got to San Bernardino on Friday — and has helped drop more than 200,000 gallons of fire retardant on the fires in more than a dozen flights. That helps slow the fire by essentially building a wall for firefighters on the ground to put the fires out.
“Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of houses that are gone, just gray ash foundations,” Smithley said. “That is an indelible mark that will stay with me for the rest of my life.”
Smithley said the jet he flies, the DC-10 Air Tanker, is the U.S. Forest Service’s biggest tool in fighting fires. For the first few days of this fire, however, the winds made it impossible to fly.
“The winds off of San Gabriels, which, you know Laurel Mountain’s 2,800 so feet, we’re talking about 9,000 foot mountains just above where we’re dropping here,” Smithley said. “So, big rocks up there with winds swirling around the top, creating rotors in the bottom of it, so that’s been a challenge particularly on the Eaton fire.”
Right now, Smithley and his crews are on standby. Winds are expected to pick back up Tuesday through Wednesday night. The hope is the fire retardant they’ve dropped from the air will hold the Palisades and Eaton fires from spreading anymore.
“Hopefully they won’t get too bad and grab anything and torch it off, but both fires are looking good right now in my parlance,” Smithley said.
And even though he’s been gone from the area for nearly 30 years, there’s a piece of Ligonier always with him.
“I proudly wear the Station 43 patch on my flight suit when I go to work,” Smithley said. “I’m really proud of my heritage from ground firefighting in Westmoreland County. I carry that on my DC-10 tanker and 10 Tanker every day.”
Smithley said aside from wind, another big issue they’re having when it comes to flying is people operating personal drones in the area of the fires to get video and pictures. He’s pleading to the public to wait until the fires are out to not interfere with the planes and helicopters.
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