VICTORVILLE — All was calm at the High Desert Events Center in Victorville on Tuesday morning.
Firefighters were fed. Some were freshly showered. Others were sleeping in tents. And some were on the phone with loved ones. Others were just hanging out, chatting with fellow firefighters from different agencies as they rested after a hard night of work.
The sea of red fire engines in the parking lot was a sight to see. Engines from throughout the state were parked at the command post for the Pilot Fire, ready to be staffed and driven up the roads of the San Bernardino Mountains to combat the blaze that had burned a little under 7,000 acres and was only 6 percent contained.
After the command post for the Pilot Fire began coming together Monday morning, fire officials said they have had some residents looking to contribute or donate food.
Cal Fire spokesman Jeff LaRusso said the acts of generosity are highly appreciated, but they are kindly declined.
“We have had some businesses bringing food or other items to us but we refer them to the Red Cross, because they can really benefit from the donations,” LaRusso said. “When we are fully up and running, we are literally a city within a city here. We have a showers, resting areas, dining areas and a fully loaded kitchen where we have an inmate crew cooking to feed the firefighters.”
The firefighters are fed by inmates housed at the county’s Prado Conservation Camp.
On Tuesday morning, the inmate crew members were cleaning their work stations after preparing a full-course breakfast for firefighters. The crew fed roughly 1,000 people for breakfast and another 1,000 people were fed Tuesday night.
According to Cal Fire’s food unit leader Matt Limon, 27 inmates work the make-shift kitchen area. The inmates are split into two 12-hour shifts, from noon to midnight or midnight to noon.
“As soon as the new shift starts, they start prepping for the meal they are responsible for cooking that shift. At about 3 to 3:30 a.m. or p.m., we start cooking food and getting it in the warmer so that we can start serving at 5 and remain serving until 10. We have menu readied through our vendor. We are here to support the crews. Make sure they are eating well. Making sure they have a proper calorie intake.”
For those firefighters heading to combat the fire, they can stop by refrigerated trailers for a sack lunch, which features four pounds of goodies, ranging from a sandwich, protein bars, candy and even an “Uncrustables” peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
LaRusso said the sack lunches are dated and are good for up to three days after the dating on the package.
“We keep track of how many people we have on the fire. If we have 500 firefighters, we know we need so many lunches. If we have 1,000 firefighters, we know we need so many lunches,” LaRusso said.
Every need is accounted for at the command post. When battling a large brush fire, nothing is taken for granted.