San Joaquin County firefighters use engine ladders, medical backboards and scavenged lumber to help other fire crews cross the Merced River during the recent fire near Yosemite National Park. The temporary bridge eliminated a nearly four-mile trek other crews had to make in order to reach a permanent bridge. (Courtesy photograph)

A bridge — not too far

Local firefighters become temporary engineers to cross river

When local firefighters were sent to battle a massive blaze near Yosemite National Park last month, they didn't know what the job would entail.

Sometimes crews fight active flames, and other times they cut brush and create fire lines to keep blazes from spreading.

But some San Joaquin County firefighters temporarily became engineers, using fire truck ladders, lumber and medical backboards to cross the Merced River. They topped it off with a cardboard sign reading "San Joaquin Crossing," signifying that their humor was still in place after spending nearly a week away from home.

"Nobody had ever seen anything like it," Liberty Firefighter John Madsen, of Acampo, said with a laugh.

In the age of digital cameras, photos of the bridge soon made the rounds and became the talk of area fire departments. Woodbridge Fire Chief Mike Kirkle, who coordinates much of the county's mutual aid on major incidents, hadn't seen anything like it in his many years of fire experience.

Liberty and Waterloo-Morada firefighters were part of a strike team assigned to the eastern side of a fire near Yosemite National Park, dubbed the Telegraph Fire. That blaze, which was started by a target shooter, ultimately burned 34,000 acres and destroyed 30 homes.

The local crews were stationed just off Highway 140, about three miles southwest of El Portal, Madsen said. Their goal was to keep the fire from jumping the Merced River, which runs parallel to the highway.

The night before their bridge-building adventure, the fire crews had seen some action, but by the next day they had time on their hands.

Meanwhile, crews specializing in another kind of firefighting had crossed the river and hiked through the steep terrain. They arrived at the top of a hill and spent 12 hours cutting and hacking through brush with chainsaws and hand tools.

Once they made their way back down the hill, it would take nearly four miles of hiking along the river to find a safe place to cross.

A state fire battalion chief got the idea to create a bridge across the river to supply water to the exhausted firefighters. Then the crews decided to try building a bridge that would carry the firefighters across to the road.

The Merced River was about seven to eight feet deep at one point, and it was flowing fast enough that there was no way the firefighters could cross, Madsen said.

So they placed a 12-foot ladder from the bank to a rock, and then stretched a 24-foot ladder from the rock to the other bank. They placed two yellow medical backboards on the first ladder. Then they found long pieces of lumber upriver and placed them across the longer ladder.

They even stretched a rope across the river to serve as a safeguard — "though that was probably overkill," said Waterloo-Morada Firefighter Jason Harper, of Lodi. The hand crews had been working in very rough terrain, so they had no problem walking across two flat fire ladders, he said.

Around 7:30 p.m. that night, July 30, exhausted hand crews made their way down the steep hill, with rocks falling to announce their arrival before they could even be seen. The bridge was a very welcome sight for firefighters who wore heavy gear and carried chainsaws and other tools.

"They would have had to walk that three-and-a-half miles in that rugged terrain, in the dark," Harper said.

The next day, they happened to see the hand crew members, who recognized them instantly and shouted more thanks as they rolled past.

Madsen, Harper and the rest of the San Joaquin County strike team were sent home on Aug. 3 and have since gone back to their normal duties. So far, they haven't been asked to build any new bridges.

Contact reporter Layla Bohm at layla@lodinews.com.