Published on December 01, 2018

The Fire may be out and the Search for Human Remains complete, but the effects on the people it touched isn't….Including First Responders

Please see the attached Press Release for more information and photographs Camp Fire - The Fire may be out and the Search for Human Remains complete but the effects on the people it touched isn't.Including First Responders - Novembe.pdf

Pictured Above - Members of California Urban Search and Rescue Task Force 3, sponsored by the Menlo Park Fire Protection District,  is one of eight California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (CAL-OES) and twenty eight National Response Teams sponsored by FEMA. Team members take time to respectfully take down and save the American Flag for the owner of a destroyed home they may never meet, in the Community of Magalia during the Camp Fire.

Pictured (left) Captain John Wurdinger, Menlo Park Fire Protection District (Search Team Manager) and (right) Engineer Katie Roberts, Santa Clara County Fire Department (Medical Specialist). 

The flag was folded and put in the mail box by Engineer Tim Houweling, Mountain View Fire Department (K9 Handler). The photograph was taken by San Jose Fire’s Shawn Tacklind (Safety Officer) - Photo Credit Task Force 3

Above: Task Force Leader Dan Coyle, with the Menlo Park Fire District, provides some last words of appreciation and thanks to his fellow 45 first responders that came from a variety of supporting Fire Agencies on the Peninsula along with a group of dedicated civilian professionals that made up this unique group that spent a week over the Thanksgiving Holiday at the Camp Fire looking for the remains of the lost and missing. They returned home last Sunday forever changed by what they saw and did. Credit Fire Photographer Peter Mootz

Fire Chief Schapelhouman said “This has been a rough but important deployment for the Team Members, especially for the Search Dogs. Everyone’s pretty beat up, it was long days working in a completely devastated burned out community that’s located in our back yard. Everyone knows somebody who lost a home or more. The Team was honored to be there, but it’s hard to feel completely finished with so many people still missing and I know many feel like their leaving a little piece of themselves behind because its hard not to be emotionaly impacted by what they saw and were involved with. They will be holding a Critical Incident Stress Debriefing in the next few weeks to talk through the response”.