Normally, no. Adapt and overcome is a way of life.
The closest I came was on a fire that I running - me to dispatch: "I'll take those three Type III engines you were holding in reserve; things just went to crap here. Code three, immediate need." He had the current size up on conditions, it was clear and concise and I got what I needed (plus a visit from the Chief, who had nothing but compliments).
It was a year before the big fire in Inverness (Marin), on a hot Diablo wind day and it was a crummy situation. The big fire almost happened then instead of a year later (NOT my fire!), in a home dense, wildland interface. Too windy for aircraft (30+, worse on the ridge) and most of my department was working an existing hike in fire near the beach; 5 miles but 40 minutes away so it was all volunteers and CDF... ETAs were running about an hour minimum... We got it, but it wasn't pretty. Thirteen engines and two hand crews for a fire that amounted to less than an acre. All because of a single tree on fire, too high to spray water and I didn't have a faller (I could have dropped the tree, but houses were in the way and it was a delicate drop with wires overhead).
The next year an illegal campfire escaped and by the time the crews hiked in to cut a line (no roads), they were able to watch it make a run to the ridge, then call out the world for help... it was too late and very disappointing to watch. A number of homes and many acres later (~12K), the great Pacific firebreak contained it (and only after the Diablo stopped). Until the winds died, the entire Point Reyes peninsula was at risk.
The Diablos are the same reason the Oakland hills burned (and because OFD didn't do mop up correctly and didn't have a crew sit on a small fire but came back the next day to finish mop up then watched it roar into action as they arrived). That one only stopped when the wind stopped and the fog arrived.
Rick
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