San Diego fire crews have been sent to battle the Lake Fire north of Los Angeles. They're dealing with the danger of not only battling the flames, but also the pandemic.
"It is definitely dynamic," said Cal Fire Capt. Thomas Shoots. "We’re human, so just like everyone else in the world, we're trying to figure out how to work through this."
Shoots just returned to San Diego after helping out at the Apple wildfire, burning in the mountains east of Los Angeles. So far, it's scorched more than 33,000 acres.
Shoots said because of the pandemic, there were definitely changes.
"We're taking as many precautions as possible. Ultimately, fighting fires is inherently dangerous and adding the COVID-19 risk, we don’t want to stack anything on top of it," he said.
For example, base camps were separated to try and prevent thousands of firefighters from gathering in the same spot. He said fire crews wear masks at camp and there are daily temperature checks in the mornings.
"At the briefings, everybody stayed spaced out six feet. They only included officers that needed to be there. They’re using technology to stream a lot of this stuff," he added.
The trailers they work out of have a limited capacity. He said even something as simple as meal time has changed.
"There’s not the buffet style that we’ve seen in the past. Everything comes in its own containers being handled by one person before it comes to you," said Shoots.
There were also noticeable differences at evacuation centers during the Apple fire. Though thousands were forced from their homes, hardly anyone showed up at evacuation centers out of fear of COVID-19.
Meanwhile, 15 Cal Fire firefighters, a fire chief and a Dozer strike team were sent to battle the Lake fire, located north of Los Angeles.
Shoots said though the pandemic has made their jobs more complicated, when it comes to fighting the fire itself, it's business as usual.
"Ultimately we know that our operational decisions as far as the firefight can’t change," he said. "We still need to get out there. We still need to put that fire out and we need to do it aggressively."