08/24/2026
We’ve been very busy this past week! On Tuesday we responded three volunteer firefighters an engine and a water tender for mutual aid to a vegetation fire in Big Springs near the elementary school. On Wednesday we responded an engine and two firefighters to the Prather Incident, a structure fire in the City of Montague. Then, on Thursday we responded one firefighter and a water tender for mutual aid to another vegetation fire on Ager Rd. in Hornbrook. Finally, on Friday we responded two firefighters and an engine to a vegetation fire in the Montague Fire Protection District. We would like to thank our volunteers for taking time out of their personal lives to respond to calls to help the community without expecting any kind of compensation. Even with twenty volunteers on our roster we will often only have as many as five available at any given time to drop everything and show up which is why we have mutual aid agreements with surrounding agencies and Cal Fire. This is the eternal struggle with volunteer fire departments and nothing new for ours. If you’d like to join, we welcome anyone that has the time and commitment to show up. We’d like to thank everyone that showed up to the Prather Incident whether they were volunteers, paid firefighters or Good Samaritans. We were dispatched to a barn on fire off of W. Prather St. and responded with two firefighters and Engine 512. Upon arrival we gave a scene size up and continued all the mutual aid dispatched while simultaneously pulling two attack lines and charging them within 5 minutes of the original time of dispatch. Efforts to put water on the seat of the fire were significantly hampered by access as the barn was sealed up tight. Our Captain, recognizing this, dropped the nozzle and returned to the engine to get a chainsaw to create access. Good Samaritans picked up the attack lines and continued to cool the exterior of the structure until we could create access and our mutual aid partners showed up. Good Samaritans also assisted with tagging a hydrant for water supply which, in our haste to get tied in, we overlooked instructing the flushing of the hydrant before connecting. We later experienced a loss in pressure that, upon breaking down the supply line, became evident that it had resulted from rust scale that had clogged the intake screen on the engine. The loss in pressure only lasted a minute or two as a water tender was already at scene and while we switched over to that tender connection. The fire was extinguished with no extension to any exposures or injuries of any kind. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. Again, thank you to everyone that showed up to help!
