Wildfire Response

Latest News

National Guard Members Continue LA Wildfire Response
January 21, 2025 — LOS ANGELES – U.S. Army Sgt. Ricardo Hernandez watched from a cross street as sporadic traffic... MORE

U.S. Army Sgt. Bryce Carter, an infantryman with C Company, 1st Battalion, 160th Infantry Regiment, California Army National Guard, sharpens the blade of a hoe to clear brush and other debris as part of remediation efforts along the Mulholland Trail near Tarzana, California, in the aftermath of the Palisades Fire, Jan. 18, 2025. Carter and other members of his unit were assisting CALFIRE in mop-up efforts, which included clearing brush and backfilling firebreaks and other areas to prevent mudslides and reduce the impact of firefighting efforts.

California Guardsman Helps Battle Wildfires in His Community
January 16, 2025 — CHANNEL ISLANDS AIR NATIONAL GUARD STATION, Calif. - Amid the wildfire crisis in California, an Air... MORE

Master Sgt. Alan Franklin, a commander's support Airman with the 146th Airlift Wing, speaks to 1st Lt. Aiden Flores about the Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System mission on the flightline at Channel Islands Air National Guard Station, Port Hueneme, California, Jan. 13, 2025. MAFFS aircraft from the Air National Guard’s 153rd Airlift Wing, Cheyenne, Wyoming, the 152nd Airlift Wing, Reno, Nevada, the 146th Airlift Wing, Port Hueneme, California, and Air Force Reserve Command’s 302 AW, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado, are working together to combat fires in the Los Angeles area.

National Guard Bureau Chief Thanks Firefighting Guardsmen
January 14, 2025 — CHANNEL ISLANDS AIR NATIONAL GUARD STATION, Calif. – The National Guard is part of a multi-agency... MORE

Air Force Gen. Steve Nordhaus, chief, National Guard Bureau, and Army Senior Enlisted Advisor John Raines, SEA to the CNGB, visit National Guard members supporting wildland firefighting in Southern California, Channel Islands Air National Guard Station, Calif., Jan. 11, 2025. Thousands of National Guardsmen are involved in multiple air and ground firefighting in the Los Angeles Basin and Southern California.

Wyoming, Nevada Guard Aircrews Assist California Firefighters
January 13, 2025 — CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Three Wyoming Air National Guard C-130s equipped with the U.S. Forest Service’s... MORE

U.S. Air Force Airmen assigned to the 153rd Airlift Wing load and install the Modular Airborne Fire Fighting Systems onto a C-130H Hercules aircraft in Cheyenne, Wyoming, Jan. 10, 2025, in preparation to support firefighting efforts in the Los Angeles area.

California, Nevada, Wyoming Guard Join Firefighting Battle
January 10, 2025 — MOFFETT AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, Calif. - Hundreds of National Guard members are now involved in... MORE

U.S. Air Force Airmen with the 129th Rescue Wing, California Air National Guard, at Moffett Air National Guard Base, Calif., prepare an HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter to help battle the Palisades Fire Jan. 9, 2025.

Latest Photos

Latest Videos

Video by Michel Sauret

Tour of the New Montgomery Batch Plant Pad

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District

Dec. 31, 2024 | 4:08

Jenna Cunningham, the resident engineer for the Upper Ohio River Project, takes viewers on a quick tour of the newly completed batch plant pad at Montgomery Locks and Dam. The pad may seem like an ordinary, empty parking lot, but it will serve a key role in staging the new batch plant that will be built on site to produce 400,000 cubic yards of concrete to construct a new lock chamber!

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District has awarded a nearly $770 million contract through President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to construct a new 110-foot by 600-foot lock chamber at Montgomery Locks and Dam in Monaca, Pennsylvania. Per President Biden’s Executive Order 14063 on Project Labor Agreements for Federal Construction Projects, the project also has a Project Labor Agreement in place, providing for union labor.

Montgomery Locks is a critical element of national supply chains, enabling the transport of 12 million tons of goods annually on barges into and out of the Port of Pittsburgh. The locks are now nearly a century old and are at an increased risk of failure that would severely disrupt these supply chains. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law invested more than $1 billion to the Upper Ohio Navigation Project to include modernizing Montgomery Locks, which helps get goods to shelves reliably. The project is the largest Bipartisan Infrastructure Law-funded project in Pennsylvania and will support more than 13,000 jobs during construction.

The district awarded the construction contract to the Trumbull-Brayman Construction Corporation, Joint Venture of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The contract begins the construction of the new lock chamber. The work involves removing the 56-foot by 360-foot auxiliary lock chamber and constructing a new 110-foot by 600-foot primary lock chamber.

(U.S. Army Corps of Engineers video by Michel Sauret)