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Assistant Chief Wes Arvin of the UC º£½ÇÔ­´´ Fire Department is leading a Yolo County strike team that went to work Sept. 7 on the mammoth Station fire in the Angeles National Forest.

Arvin departed for Southern California on Sept. 6, two days after four other UC º£½ÇÔ­´´ firefighters returned safe and sound from a brief assignment on the 1,159-acre Oak Glen 3 wildfire in San Bernardino County.

Chancellor Linda Katehi greeted Capt. º£½ÇÔ­´´ Stiles, engineer Terry Weisser, and Jon Poganski and Nathan Potter upon their return at 5:45 p.m. Sept. 4. The four had been gone since Aug. 31, dispatched in a firetruck that belongs to the state Office of Emergency Services. The truck, designated OES 251, is UC º£½ÇÔ­´´â€™ to use —except when the state needs the truck and a crew. For the Oak Glen 3 fire, the state dispatched OES 251 and Winters’ OES 333 as part of a southern San Joaquin Valley strike team.

The Arvin-led strike team’s assignment on the Station fire was expected to last through this week. The team comprises five trucks, one each from the city of º£½ÇÔ­´´, Woodland, Willow Oak (outside of Woodland), West Sacramento and the Rumsey Rancheria.

Arvin reported that his 20-person team was taking care of hot spots and flare-ups, in support of hand crews on the east flank of the fire, due east of Mount Wilson.

As of 7 a.m. Sept. 10, fire officials listed the size of the Station blaze at 160,357 acres and reported that it was 71 percent contained.

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