ARLINGTON, Va. - National Guard Citizen-Soldiers and –Airmen were assisting firefighters tackling wildfires in California, Colorado and North Carolina on Friday.
Guardmembers rushed to help in the Western, Mountain and Eastern Seaboard states even as Minutemen and women were engaged in domestic crisis response missions in at least seven other states:
- Floods: Guardmembers helped flooded communities in Indiana, Iowa, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
- Wind: The Guard helped residents hit by Kansas storms and Nebraska tornadoes.
Meanwhile, the Guard continued to assist Border Patrol agents in four Southwest border states, ferry drinking water to residents of several New Mexico towns, support Louisiana police, provide critical infrastructure protection in Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York, fly critical air sovereignty missions nationwide and run Counterdrug operations.
In California, the Guard was sending UH-60 Black Hawk and CH-47 Chinook helicopters to help firefighters tackling fires in four counties.
The Colorado National Guard was conducting wildland firefighting operations at the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site located southeast of Fort Carson, according to Capt. Robert Bell, the state's public affairs officer.
More than 20 Colorado Guardmembers conducted water bucket operations and flight missions in support of local authorities, Bell said. Colorado Guard aircraft were focusing on critical hotspots with direction from ground and air crews, he said.
Four Black Hawks and a Chinook dropped tens of thousands of gallons of water on the fires burning on grass and pinon-juniper in the remote and rugged country. “Our mission is being conducted at the request of Fort Carson and Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site officials," said Col. Neil Keohane, Colorado operations directorate (J3).
The fire at the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site had burned 42,000 acres by Friday morning and it was threatening eight nearby ranches, The Associated Press reported.
Low humidity, high heat and gusting winds have hampered efforts to control the fire, AP said.
Meanwhile, AP said an eastern North Carolina wildfire that burned 30,000 acres may smolder for months.
The fire, which was about 30 percent contained, continues to burn in the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, about 70 miles south of Norfolk, Va. Its spread has slowed, and winds remain light, but the fire threatens about 80 homes and businesses, AP reported.
The North Carolina Guard provided Black Hawks with Bambi buckets to drop water on the fire. The Guard also provided communications, power and air conditioning equipment in support of firefighting efforts, the National Guard Bureau reported.