Fire fighters from two Morongo Basin stations were sent early Friday morning to fight the Colby fire in the hills above Glendora and Azusa. Brush engines from Station 41 in Yucca Valley and from the Morongo Valley Fire Department left about 2 a.m. Friday. Each brush engine has four fire fighters on it: Captain Arthen, Engineer Behrens, Firefighter/Paramedic Trovato, and Firefighter Partida from Morongo Valley; and Captain Jay Dimoff, Engineer Cory Norton, Firefighter/Paramedic Frank Lerma, and Firefighter Garrett Green from Yucca Valley. Brush engines have a mobile pump with 500 gallons of water and designed to travel over rugged terrain. Firefighters normally work in 24-hour shifts; with the very early morning departure, it’ll probably be 30 hours before they’re able to get any sleep. The two Morongo Basin brush engines are part of a mixed bag strike team, joining fire fighters from Apple Valley and Big Bear. The Colby fire has burned about 1,700 acres and was 30 percent contained as of Friday morning. Three men were arrested Thursday for setting the fire; a gust of wind blew embers from their campfire which started the fire.
