SANTA CRUZ – Governor Gavin Newsom today announced the deployment of firefighting resources to Oregon to assist in battling the Rum Creek Fire as hot, dry temperatures and high winds continue to feed deadly wildfire conditions throughout the West.
Governor Newsom instructed the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) to promptly deploy four- and five-engine strike teams as well as support staff in response to Oregon Governor Kate Brown’s request.
“State borders are not a barrier to climate change and wildfires. Governor Newsom said, “California is honored to join with our friends to the north to assist safeguard communities and vulnerable Oregonians.
Staff from the following local fire departments will be part of the strike teams being sent to Oregon: San Mateo, Alameda, Cosumnes, Sacramento Metro, West Sacramento, Amador FDP, South County, San Francisco, Placer Hills, Foresthill, Mosquito FPD, Nevada County Consolidated, and Grass Valley City. The teams will be transported to Oregon aboard Cal OES engines. If the situation with the wildfires calls for it, the teams who were dispatched may be sent back to California.
More than 10,709 acres have been destroyed by the Rum Creek Fire so far.
This deployment expands on California’s extensive initiatives to assist other states in need. California has already sent firemen, disaster recovery specialists, and public relations specialists to Montana and New Mexico this year. In 2021, California deployed fire trucks to Florida to help with the Surfside tower collapse and specialized urban search and rescue crews to Oregon to help put out the Bootleg Fire.
At the height of the COVID-19 epidemic, Governor Newsom dispatched millions of pieces of personal protective equipment (PPE) to adjacent states throughout the West Coast in addition to ventilators to Michigan, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, and Delaware.