Firefighting resources within Santa Barbara County have been overwhelmed this past week in their efforts to combat a large wildland fire.  As such, the City of Manteca Fire Department is entering the sixth day of having an engine company deployed to assist communities in the Santa Barbara area. The fire engine being used is provided to the City by the Office of Emergency Services (OES) from the State of California.  

In turn, the OES fire engine is required to respond to all official mutual aid requests by the state, staffed by Manteca firefighters.  The City of Manteca ultimately benefits from this provision with the State, as state reimbursement for personnel staffing costs typically exceeds city expenses, and the OES fire engine can be used as a backup to serve the emergency response needs of the City of Manteca throughout the year. Additionally, firefighters throughout all ranks gain valuable experience that is then brought back to the City of Manteca and serves the citizens well.

For the first 48 hours in Santa Barbara, our OES engine company performed “bump and run” structure protection where firefighters stop the fire from igniting a home and then rapidly move to save another.  Manteca firefighters have made multiple saves over the past week.  They report being tired but are all healthy and strong.  Thankfully, there have been no injuries to our firefighters!