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SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Twelve California National Guard hand crews totaling 240 soldiers began working the Butte fire line Wednesday following intensive training at Cal Guard installation Camp Roberts in the Central Coast region.
More than 900 Cal Guard soldiers have now worked wildland firefighting duty this year, including helicopter and air-tanker crews.
Earlier this month, the Guard deactivated two hand crew task forces with a combined 650 soldiers, who had contributed 70,000 work-hours to assist the California Department of Fire and Forestry Protection (Cal Fire), the Governor's Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) and the U.S. Forest Service. The troops used hand tools to cut 29 miles of fire lines and eliminate hotspots, retrieved equipment, built water bars and worked to restore hundreds of acres of environmentally and culturally sensitive land to their pre-fire state, filling in fire lines, replanting vegetation and recovering the landscape.
"The work the Guard was able to do with such large, heavy machinery was amazing,” said Doreen Hrivnak, archaeologist for the Six Rivers National Forest's Mad River District, referring to vehicles the troops used to move boulders for temporary dams. “They were able to maneuver that equipment with such precision around some very sensitive archaeological sites."
Rick Young, incident commander for NorCal Interagency Incident Management Team II, said the units' organization and diversity of skills proved to be to be tremendous assets in containing and controlling incidents. He noted that one task force retrieved and rolled an impressive 58 miles of fire hose.
"Their discipline, work ethic and positive attitude is something to aspire to," he wrote in a letter to Chief Ken Pimlott, director of Cal Fire. "We are proud to have worked alongside them and admire their service to our country."
The hand crews complemented as many as 14 Cal Guard helicopters and air tankers that fought the fires at one time and provided medevac and other mission support. California Army Guard aviators have performed 2,777 helicopter bucket drops totaling more than 2.5 million gallons of water during 936 flight hours this year. California Air Guard tanker crews, meanwhile, have performed 101 drops totaling more than 275,000 gallons of fire retardant during 117 hours in the air.
"Whether from the air or on the ground, the Cal Guard is always ready to provide critical support to civil authorities to protect property and lives," said Maj. Gen. David S. Baldwin, California's adjutant general. "As we do in any operation or training event in California, we make every effort to maintain and preserve the land with the help of expert advice from within the Cal Guard and from partners like the U.S. Forest Service, Cal Fire and Cal OES."
Supporting firefighting operations is an annual mission the Guard trains for in close coordination with Cal Fire and Cal OES.
"These additional resources from the California National Guard are critical mutual resources for our emergency response efforts on these recent and extremely devastating fires," said Cal OES director Mark Ghilarducci.
| Date Taken: | 09.18.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 12.29.2015 06:30 |
| Story ID: | 185414 |
| Location: | SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 53 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Third wave of Cal Guard hand crews reaches fire line, by Brandon Honig, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
