More than 100 Washington firefighters are heading to Southern California to help fight the devastating wildfires ravaging the area.
The Washington Emergency Management Division announced on social media that the state is “pulling together resources” to send 45 engines and 11 trucks to provide firefighting assistance, in addition to 146 firefighters. These resources are being parceled into nine task forces.
The fire departments sending firefighters and other resources to combat the fires in Washington are Snohomish Regional Fire and Rescue, North County Fire, South County Fire, Sky Valley, Snoho Fire Districts 16, 4, 22 and 15, Camano Island Fire & Rescue, Eastside Fire & Rescue, Chelan Fire & Rescue, Key Peninsula Fire, Gig Harbor Fire & Medic One, Shoreline Fire and North Mason Regional Fire.
Many of these departments either left sometime Wednesday, or used Wednesday to prepare and left Thursday morning. Tulalip Bay Fire Department Capt. Derek Kuhn told The Seattle Times he expects he and his team will be away for 18 days.
“We have 200 firefighters within our organization, so we’re only sending five,” Snohomish Regional Fire & Rescue Battalion Chief Justyn Shevlin told KIRO 7. “We’re sending a strike team leader and one structural engine with a crew of four. There’s no loss of service to the residents that we serve in Snohomish Regional Fire and Rescue. Our minimum or daily staffing has stayed the same.”
Shevlin stated that the Washington-based firefighters are prepared to help in any way, whether that’s relieving firefighters who need rest, extinguishing flames or using their engines to protect structures threatened by the wildfires.
The fires in Los Angeles County, which have destroyed more than 1,000 structures and killed five people as of this reporting, are especially dangerous due to being fueled by winds that reached more than 60 mph. There are five active fires in the Los Angeles area: Palisades Fire, Eaton Fire, Hurst Fire, Lidia Fire and Sunset Fire. The Hurst Fire is 10% contained and the Lidia Fire is 40% contained, according to NBC Washington. The rest of the fires are 0% contained.
