SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Oct. 14, 2017 (Gephardt Daily/UPI) — More than three dozen fire fighters and nine fire engines from Utah drove west Saturday morning, headed toward Northern California to help battle wildfires that already have killed 38 people and left hundreds more missing.
Experts from seven Utah agencies will join those already there from state public safety agencies. Fire departments sending people and resources Saturday were:
- Salt Lake City: two engines with 12 personnel, and a van used as a chase support vehicle
- Unified Fire Authority: two engines with 10 personnel, including public information officer Eric Holmes
- Provo: one engine and 4 personnel
- West Valley: one engine and 4 personnel
- West Jordan: one engine and 4 personnel
- South Jordan: one engine and 4 personnel
- Draper: one engine and crew
Workers will remain on the job for three weeks. The newly deployed bring the total to 29 engines from Utah sent to assist.
Eight engine crews have been sent under the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, a system of state-to-state mutual aid.
Other cities and agencies to send people and or resources have included Cedar City, Hurricane, Washington, Richfield, Salina, Gunnison, Uintah County, Juan County, Sanpete County, the State of Utah and the Bureau of Land Management.
California is seeking as many resources they can get to help relieve the burden on local firefighters who are exhausted from continuous operations. The current fire outbreak in California has been one of the deadliest and most destructive in the state’s history.
