SUTPHEN—Orange Township Fire Department, Lewis Center, OH, 75-foot aerial ladder quint. Monarch cab and chassis; Cummins X12 500-hp engine; Waterous CSU 2,000-gpm pump; UPF Poly 500-gallon water tank; 20-gallon foam cell; Waterous Aquis 3.0 single-agent foam system; Ziamatic electric ladder rack; stainless steel body. Dealer: Andy Herb, Herb Fire Equipment, Powell, OH.

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Andrew J. Campa
Los Angeles Times
(TNS)

Two of eight Orange County firefighters injured in a freeway crash last month transitioned from hospital care to rehabilitation on Wednesday, the Orange County Fire Authority announced.

That means six members of the Santiago Hand Crew, tasked with helping battle the massive Airport fire, are now home or in rehab. Two unnamed firefighters continue to be hospitalized at Providence Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo and Orange County Global Medical Center in Santa Ana.

Firefighter Andrew Brown, whose condition was not released by the OCFA due to a family request for privacy, received a cheerful sendoff as he was discharged from Mission Hospital and transferred to Craig Hospital in Englewood, Colo., on Wednesday morning.

“Like all eight of the OCFA patients, Andrew continues to show the same strength and courage that makes him a tremendous hand crew firefighter,” OCFA Capt. Thanh Nguyen said in a video statement. “That excellence was on full display during the Airport fire as Andrew and the rest of the OCFA’s Santiago Hand Crew put their life on the line to protect life and property.”

Brown received a round of applause from colleagues and hospital staff, while some waved handmade support signs, as he exited the facility’s elevator, according to a video clip provided by the OCFA. He was accompanied by a family member and was wheeled out in a gurney by fellow firefighters. The OCFA said a procession of vehicles followed Brown to John Wayne Airport.

Brown, who wore a neck brace and foot restraint, was taken via ambulance to an awaiting jet, according to the video clip. On the tarmac, a cadre of firefighters stood watch until he was placed in the jet and it departed.

He’ll receive treatment at the Englewood facility, which refers to itself as a world-renowned, premier center for specialty neurorehabilitation and research for people with a spinal injury and brain injury.

Brown received a greeting from OCFA and Colorado firefighters upon his landing, according to the OCFA.

Another member of the eight firefighters, which the OCFA did not name due to a family request for privacy, transferred from Orange County Global Medical Center to Rancho Los Amigos Rehabilitation Center in Downey.

Chris Hamm, president of the 1,200-member Orange County Professional Firefighter Local 3631, is asking anyone interested in helping to support the injured fighters and their families to send donations to www.fallenfirefighterrelieffund.org/ocfahandcrew.

The firefighters were injured Sept. 19 when their vehicle crashed and flipped over on State Route 241. They were returning from fighting the Airport fire, which has burned thousands of acres in Orange and Riverside counties.

The driver’s vehicle swerved to avoid a ladder on the freeway just north of Portola Parkway in Irvine. Seven were taken via ambulance and one on a helicopter to local medical facilities.

Two of the eight firefighters were released that evening, while another two returned home the next day, according to the OCFA.

The Airport fire began on Sept. 9 and was 95% contained as of Thursday, according to Cal Fire.

The fire burned a total of 23,526 acres and ultimately involved 191 personnel, five

The Clyde Volunteer Fire Department made the following Facebook post after Hurricane Helene hit:

“The fire department like many others suffered major damage. We have been fortunate to find a temporary home while we navigate this difficult path with our community. We are staffed and have and will continue to answer the calls for assistance with in our district.

“Thank you for all the support from other agencies particularly Junaluska Fire Department who spent the day with us.”

The Clyde Volunteer Fire Department services the Town of Clyde and Central Haywood Fire District.

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Ryan Oehrli
The Charlotte Observer
(TNS)

People in Clyde were rebuilding Saturday — again.

For many residents, it was their second time getting hit by a storm and having to start over. For some, it was the third. In 2021, Haywood County got hit by Tropical Storm Fred. Before that, Ivan in 2004.

But neither compared to what they saw after Helene, residents told The Charlotte Observer. Helene, which struck Florida as a Category 4 hurricane before dumping historic rain totals on western North Carolina as a tropical storm, washed out roads and brought untold damage to a swath of the state. Cellular networks and internet access remained limited.

The water line from flooding nearly reached the ceiling of a home on Broad Street in Clyde, where Brandon Patterson raked mud and trash out of his stepfather’s home.

Patterson’s stepfather, Tomas Quiroz, bought the house after Fred flooded it in 2021, hoping to fix it up.

Now he is back to square one, and his family says they will rebuild there.

Others on Broad Street were dealing with the same, familiar issues.

“We lost everything in the house just about,” said Denise Dean, who lived just a few doors down from Quiroz, and who’s lived on Broad Street for about eight years.

Unlike Quiroz, she’s moving somewhere with higher ground. She’s staying across