San Francisco is sending nearly two dozen firefighters to Southern California to aid crews responding to the series of destructive blazes tearing through the Los Angeles area.
Twenty-two San Francisco Fire Department personnel — 20 firefighters and two chiefs — left for Los Angeles around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, according to San Francisco Fire Department spokesperson Lt. Mariano Elias.
“This is what we train for,” Elias told The Examiner. “The mission of any fire service across the country is to protect life, property and environment. That’s what our members are going to do.”
The cavalry deployed to the Palisades Fire, the largest of a handful of wildfires which collectively consumed more than 25,000 acres, toppled more than 1,000 buildings, killed five people and forced more than 100,000 residents to evacuate their homes as of Wednesday afternoon, according to state and local officials.
They were all at 0% containment as of press time, according to Cal Fire.
Elias said the department received a notification from the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services on Wednesday morning requesting that it send a Type 1 fire engine strike team to Southern California, deploying crews which are used to defend structures and utilize large fire engines designed to work in urban environments.