Texas firefighters are being sent to Northern California to fight wildfires

CENTRALTEXTAS (KXXV) — When temperatures rise, it takes a team effort to make a difference.

25 messages Producer Taylor Helmes reached out to the Texas A&M Forest Service to learn about the impact Central Texas firefighters are having on Northern California.

“One hundred fire trucks from Texas drove halfway across the country, here to California, here to our little corner of Northern California to help. We are extremely grateful to the governor and the response from Texas,” said Rick Carhart, spokesman for CAL FIRE Butte County Fire Department.

The Texas A&M Forest Service was part of Texas' response to the Park Fire that has been raging in Northern California for more than three weeks.

While emergency responders have already begun returning home to Texas, Governor Greg Abbott has made another request to deploy 200 additional emergency responders across the state in light of the increasing wildfire risk in Texas.

Kari Hines of the Texas A&M Forest Service says the agency has nearly 340 full-time wildland firefighters and was able to respond to both calls for backup.

Some of the biggest challenges Texas firefighters may face when fighting fires in other states include varying terrain, landscape and weather conditions.

“Of course, fire behaves differently in different ecosystems and we don't even have to leave the state to experience that, right?” Hines said.

“The fires in the pine forests of East Texas are very different from the large plains fires in the panhandle of West Texas – that's something we experience in the state and value. One of the reasons we send people to other states is so they can build their skills and knowledge.”

But the technology and communication between local, state and federal resources are all the same.

“No matter where you go and no matter who you talk to, whether it’s local, regional, state or national resources, we all use the same language,” Hines said.

“The courses that wildfire fighters take, whether it's basic introduction to wildfire or higher-level leadership courses – these are all national courses and we are all expected to speak the same language.”

But while resources are being allocated, this could harm other parts of the city.

As emergency crews are being dispatched to other locations in Marlin, the city informed residents via Facebook that there may be longer response times for firefighting aircraft, bulldozers and additional personnel.

Out-of-state operations are voluntary for Texas A&M Forest Service teams. In addition, city departments have hundreds of building firefighters trained to fight wildfires who are available through the Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System, or TIFMAS.