Update:
The National Interagency Fire Center:
For the first time since 2006, the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) in Boise, Idaho is mobilizing active duty military personnel to serve as firefighters to assist with wildfire suppression efforts. Currently, approximately 95 large wildfires are burning about 1.1 million acres in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, California, Nevada, and Colorado. The National Preparedness Level is currently at 5, the highest level, indicating a high level of wildfire activity and a high level of commitment of available wildfire suppression assets, such as firefighters, aircraft, and engines. Weather and fuel conditions are predicted to continue to be conducive to wildfire ignitions and spread for the next several weeks.
The National Multi-Agency Coordinating Group (NMAC) at NIFC requested the Department of Defense (DOD) to provide 200 active duty military personnel to assist with firefighting efforts. The DOD has approved the request and identified the 17th Field Artillery Brigade, 7th Infantry Division, Army located at Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) in Washington to provide the active duty military personnel. The Soldiers will be organized into ten crews of 20 persons each, all of which will be sent to the same wildfire, which is in the process of being identified.
“The U.S. military has been a key partner in wildland firefighting for decades and we greatly appreciate their willingness to provide us with Soldiers to serve as firefighters as well as C-130s equipped with Modular Airborne Fire Fighting Systems (MAFFS) to serve as large air tankers to help with wildfire suppression efforts.”
The Soldiers will be outfitted with wildland fire Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and all of the other gear they will need to serve as wildland firefighters. They will be trained by wildland fire agency personnel, including the Bureau of Land Management Vegas Valley Crew comprised entirely of military veterans, at JBLM beginning this Wednesday, August 19th. The training is expected to conclude by Saturday, August 22nd, and the Soldiers are expected to begin working on a wildfire on Sunday, August 23rd.
The U.S. military has been a key partner in wildland firefighting for decades, providing personnel to serve as wildland firefighters as well as C-130s equipped with Modular Airborne Fire Fighting Systems (MAFFS) to serve as large airtankers. Four military C-130s equipped with MAFFS are currently mobilized and operating from McClellan Airtanker Base in California.
Since 1987, active duty military personnel have been mobilized to serve as wildland firefighters a total of 35 times. The last time that active duty military personnel were mobilized to serve as wildland firefighters was in 2006 when a battalion from JBLM was mobilized to work on the Tripod Complex Fires on the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest in Washington. Currently, several states – including California, Washington, and Oregon – have mobilized National Guard personnel to serve as wildland firefighters and helicopters to assist with wildfire suppression efforts.
Read more here
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Original Post:
More than 440 California National Guard soldiers and airmen have been activated to help the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection fight the wildfires throughout the state of California.
Active duty troops are also being mobilized to fight the fires. The first deployment of active duty troops to fight wildfires in several years.
According to the Department of Defense, California is one of 10 states around the country reporting significant large-fire activity as hot, dry and windy conditions cause several large fires to burn.
A CH-47 Chinook belonging to the California Army National Guard flies overhead as members of Crew 9, Task Force Charlie, listen to a safety briefing by CAL FIRE military liaison Sean Sunahara Aug. 14, 2015, near Clearlake, California.(Photo by Staff Sgt. Eddie Siguenza)
One of those other nine states is Washington where, as the season’s worst fire conditions continue in the eastern part of the state, nine large fires burn uncontained across the state causing the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to request assistance from the Washington National Guard.
From a DoD Press release:
Two National Guard Black Hawk helicopters arrived Friday and five 20-person hand crews arrived Sunday evening to join 350 firefighters battling one of the state’s most active fires, Cougar Creek, on the southeastern slopes of Mount Adams. The Guard crews recently completed wildland fire training in Yakima.
Wildfires raging in Oregon, California, and Montana have pulled firefighters and air resources to those states, where the biggest fires are commanding national attention.
Late last week, aircrews from the Wyoming and North Carolina Air National Guard, flying C-130 Hercules aircraft equipped with the U.S. Forest Service’s Modular Airborne Fire Fighting Systems, were called upon to assist with fighting wildfires in California.
The Forest Service requested the MAFFS-equipped C-130s last week, one from the 153rd Airlift Wing in Wyoming and the other from the 145th Airlift Wing in North Carolina. The aircrews are operating out of McClellan Airtanker Base, California.
The Cougar Creek fire, located six miles northwest of Glenwood, began on Aug. 10. The fire has rapidly grown to 18,000 acres with zero containment after lightning struck a heavily forested area.
Other large fires currently burning in the state include Wolverine, near Lake Chelan; Paradise, on the western border of Olympic National Park; Stickpin, northwest of Colville; Nine Mile, burning on the border with Canada near Oroville, and North Star, east of Omak. In addition, numerous smaller wildfires are popping up daily throughout the state, which require immediate action by crews with engines and helicopters to keep fires from growing larger.
Much of eastern Washington is under a red-flag fire-weather warning issued by the National Weather Service to inform area firefighting, land management agencies, and the public that conditions pose elevated wildfire danger.
The dangerous fire weather and other factors prompted a move Aug. 13 to a Level 5 wildfire preparedness level across Washington and Oregon, according to the Northwest Coordination Center, which manages interagency firefighting.
This is the highest level for this fire season, which means the area is experiencing major wildfires which have the potential to exhaust all fire resources.
On the Lake Chelan fire, the News Tribune reports that several large fires burning near the central Washington resort town of Chelan “have scorched more than 155 square miles, destroyed an estimated 50 homes Friday and Saturday and forced about 1,500 residents to flee. Scores of homes remain threatened…” and that the wildfires are taking a toll on tourism and the apple industry — the region’s main economic engines.
Two National Guard Black Hawk helicopters arrived Friday and five 20-person hand crews arrived Sunday evening to join 350 firefighters battling one of the state’s most active fires, Cougar Creek, on the southeastern slopes of Mount Adams.
Airmen assigned to the 153rd Airlift Wing load and configure a Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System (MAFFS II) on a C-130H Hercules aircraft. Wyoming Air National Guard MAFFS II certified crews will join aircrews from the 302nd Airlift Wing and the 145th Airlift Wing, North Carolina Air National Guard in California to assist in the containment of fires on the West Coast.(Photo by Master Sgt. Charles Delano, U.S. Air National Guard )
The Northwest Interagency Coordination Center has an interactive map of the Northwest fires here and provides “timely and official fire information about wildland fires across the Pacific Northwest” here.
Lead photo: Courtesy Washhington State Department of Natural Resources
