Published on September 30, 2020

Menlo Park Fire Protection District

Close call for a veteran Chief Officer at the Glass Fire

San Mateo County Fire Agencies face off with a six mile long fire front in Santa Rosa saving dozens of homes on Mountain Hawk Drive early Monday morning!

Dramatic Video Link Provided!

The San Mateo County Type 1 Heavy Engine Strike Team 2275A was released from the North Complex West Zone Fire on Sunday and re-assigned to the Glass Fire in Napa. The five fire engines from Central San Mateo County Fire, San Mateo Consolidated Fire, Redwood City Fire, San Bruno Fire and South San Francisco Fire Department were led by a Strike Team Chief (Trainee) from San Bruno Fire and a veteran Chief from the Menlo Park Fire Protection District, Division Chief Ben Marra.

Chief Marra has been with the Menlo Park Fire Protection District for 30 years and currently manages the Fire Districts Special Operations Programs, which consist of the State/National Urban Search and Rescue Task Force, a State/Local Swift Water Rescue program and the Districts Heavy Rescue Program, Air Boat Water Rescue Program, Fleet Services and Facilities maintenance programs. He is a senior rescue instructor and live fire trainer who has provided training to thousands of local, State, National and International firefighters. He is also a seasoned veteran first responder who was deployed to the Oklahoma City Bombing, World Trade Center 9/11 Collapse, Hurricane Katrina and numerous other significant emergency incidents all over the Nation.

As they approached Napa, Marra and Strike Team 2275A were re-directed to provide structural protection for a sub-division of large residential structures along Mountain Hawk Drive in Santa Rosa arriving around 7 pm Sunday evening. The Fire Engines spread out along the street and secured water supply lines from local fire hydrants and crews deployed protective hand lines, abating as many fire hazards as possible as the fire became visible in the mountains across from them as they faced the Napa side of Santa Rosa.

As Marra relayed, the fire front was reportedly six miles long as the winds started to whip up and they watched it come down the mountain, race across the valley and drop into the gully below them raining embers across the entire area. With the community evacuated, the Firefighters were able to focus on the singular task of actually fighting the fires and extinguishing smaller starts before they could grow to potentially take structures with them. On foot, Chief Marra was up and down the street all night, checking on the various fire crews, re-aligning priorities, tactics and strategies on the fly. As some of the homes started to burn, crews had to focus on the ones that could be saved and regrettably abandoning their efforts on those that could not, as the deteriorating conditions dictated.

Please see 30 second video link taken by Chief Marra - https://youtu.be/_EGPF7agiDc

Fire Chief Schapelhouman said “when I spoke to Chief Marra later on Monday his voice was raspy and he sounded tired but he couldn’t stop praising the firefighters and the stand they had just made. In the end he said they had lost 8 homes but directly saved 25 others and the neighborhoods behind them. They were all by themselves for part of the night but reinforcements started to arrive as the night faded into morning and as the winds started to subside. That’s when he nonchalantly told me that a chimney on a burnt out two story residential structure fell over and only missed him by about four to five feet. After a pause, I joked that it wouldn’t look good if a certain senior and experienced Chief officer in charge of a National structural collapse team was buried under a collapsed chimney….”good point” he countered, and we both chuckled”.

Pictured below – The chimney of a burnt out structure on Mountain Hawk Drive that narrowly missed Strike Team Leader Marra as he moved up and down the street during an all-night firefight in the neighborhood – Credit Menlo Fire

In the last 35 days, Division Chief Marra has been on two almost back to back 14 day assignments as a Strike Team Leader assigned to the River Fire, CZU Complex Fire, Creek Fire, Castle Fire, North Complex Fire and now the Glass Fire.

Pictured above – Firefighter Nick Marra (left) and his father Division Chief Ben Marra (right) at the October 2019 Easy Fire near the Reagan Library in Simi Valley – Credit Menlo Fire

For more information from the Fire District please go to our web-site at www@menlofire.org: or follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Next Door

Please contact me with any questions.