California National Guard airlift 200 people trapped by wildfire

FRESNO, CA – The California National Guard is credited with saving the lives of 200 people who were trapped Saturday night by the Creek Valley fire.

On Saturday morning the Creek Fire covered nearly 2,000 acres. Residents in the area known as Mammoth Pool in the Sierra National Forest were enjoying labor day weekend when in a matter of hours the fire had surrounded nearly 200 people.

Residents tried to flee but they didn’t get far. By Saturday night, the fire had spread to over 50,000 acres. The residents who were trying to flee were all soon gathered near a reservoir.

Dennis Drake told Fox 26 News, “There’s fires on both sides of us, we have no protection.”

The flames and smoke were so intense that everyone had to jump into the water to escape the heat, smoke, and flames.

“We’re dunking every 10-15 seconds, just trying to survive,” Drake said.

Units from the 40th Combat Aviation Brigade used Chinook (CH47) and a Blackhawk helicopter to search the area for the trapped residents.

Colonel Dave Hall said, “”As you can imagine, the terrain up in that area is extremely rugged. A lot of trees, we don’t know where people are. It’s a lot easier for us to see the heat sources and the fire, sort of see through the smoke at nighttime with the night-vision goggles.”

The helicopters located the residents and began evacuating them. Each helicopter made three trips, sometimes carrying up to 60 people, which is maximum capacity.

Hall said, “It was pretty cramped tight in there. We do not like to operate that way, but because of the circumstances of this being an urgent situation threatening life, the pilots in command made the smart decision by loading them to get on the helicopter and loading as many as they could on that lift.”

All of those trapped were rescued and arrived to fire and ambulance crews standing by in Fresno.

After being rescued by the helicopters Drake said, “They deserve respect. Absolutely, each and every one is heroes. Everyone I saw, I shook their hand, thanked them. Mainly because of the fact if it wasn’t for them. I wouldn’t have made it out.”

To all of the members of the California National Guard, the local area firefighters, and the numerous paramedics, thank you for your service. You are all true heroes.