Just after midnight Sept. 28, Capt. Casey Lyons, engineer Keld Laustsen and firefighter-paramedic James Myres received an order to head to the North Bay. The crew from the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District had 10 minutes to hit the road, as they were needed immediately for the initial attack against a wildfire than began that night in the Deer Park community of Napa County.
"It was an extremely chaotic scene. The amount of fire we encountered is more than I've seen in all my years," said Lyons, an 11-year ConFire veteran. "Homes were on fire. Trees were on fire. Power lines were on fire. People were scrambling to leave.
"I now have a thorough understanding of the term `firestorm.'"
The crew, technically a task force, was stationed at Base Camp at the Santa Rosa Safeway. As they did at Lafayette Station 16, the crew worked together, but unlike in Lafayette, where they pull 48-hour shifts, they worked 24 hours on, 24 hours off. The task force remained in the North Bay for one week.