Governor Schwarzenegger Doubles California National Guard Ground Forces Deploying to Northern California Wildfires

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today ordered an additional 200 soldiers from the California National Guard to reinforce firefighters battling flames in Northern California. This group of soldiers is in addition to the 200 troops the Governor ordered to duty as ground firefighters earlier this week. National Guard aviators have been flying fire suppression missions since the start of this fire emergency.

"I have ordered additional California National Guard soldiers to provide direct ground support to our firefighters in their efforts," said Governor Schwarzenegger. "These additional soldiers will bring much needed assistance to the efforts of the firefighters who continue to tirelessly battle the blazes across California."

The additional 200 soldiers will report to the Wildland Fire Training Center (WFTC) within McClellan Air Park early next week to train on fire behavior, fire safety, and how to create fire containment lines using hand tools. After completion of the training, the Guard members will deploy to active fires.

The California National Guard, with support from neighboring State's National Guard and reserve forces, currently has the following resources allocated to fighting fires statewide:

More than 750 personnel.
Eighteen rotary-winged helicopters. These include (12) aircraft from the CNG and (6) from other states. Helicopters from the CNG consist of (6) UH-60 Blackhawks, (1) Firehawk, (3) OH-58 Kiowa for observation and (2) HH-60G from the California Air National Guard. To date, these aircraft have dropped 1,305,596 million gallons of water.
The CNG is providing the following fixed-wing aircraft in support of the wild fires: (1) C-130J support aircraft for personnel and equipment transport and (1) RC-26 providing aerial imagery support. There are currently (8) C-130H with MAFFS, which are capable of dropping up to 3,000 gallons of water or retardant per mission: (3) from the North Carolina Air National Guard, (3) from the Colorado Air Force Reserve and (2) from the Wyoming Air National Guard. To date, (MAFFS) have dropped more than 355,600 gallons of retardant.

The state of California and the California National Guard retain robust capability to respond to other contingencies should the need arise.