Fightin' the Fire in the Foothills

This week I hung out with firefighters from Cal Fire as they practiced their wildfire fighting skills at the University of California Sierra Foothills Research and Extension Center in preparation for the upcoming fire season.

You can check out even more pictures on our paper's web gallery. Check out some of our other galleries while you're there.

http://appealdemocrat.smugmug.com/Appeal-Democrat%20Staff%20Photos

Cheers.

A firefighters makes his way around the back of a fire buring on the foothills.

A firefighter works to extinguish a grass fire during a training exercise in the foothills.

Trudging up a steep hill, firefighter Nathan Menth signals to the rest of his team after lighting a fire with a drip torch

A firefighter makes his way down a steep hill towards a wall of billowing smoke.

A firefighter holds a drip torch before setting fire to grass in the foothills as part of a Cal Fire firefighting exercise.

Smoke from a grass fire creats a tunnel of clear air around a fire official's truck.

Engineer Faith Qualtieri, right, gets tangled in barbed wire while attempting to move down a hill to fight a brush fire near the road.

Capt. Gary Lane walks through a wall of smoke along a burned-out portion of grass during the training exercise.

Jamie Miners, 11, is reflected in a pond as he tees off at the 4th tee.

Eddyana Madrid, 9, plays in the water to keep cool in front of their home in Marysville

Wilma Dunn, 83, was struck in a crosswalk by a semi-truck while crossing Colusa on her motorized scooter. Although she was knocked out, she suffered no more injuries than a few cuts and bruises.

Mangal Singh Malhi sits alone in prayer at the Yuba City Sikh Temple Gurdawara.