Salt Lake City and other Utah fire crews head to California to fight flames

The Salt Lake City Fire Department will send 12 firefighters and two engines to help battle wildfires in California.

The crew is leaving Saturday at 9 a.m. from West Valley City to battle the blazes, along with resources from eight other Utah agencies.

The Salt Lake City crew will bring two engines and a van. Unified Fire Authority plans to send two engines with 10 firefighters, and Provo, West Valley City, West Jordan and South Jordan will each send one engine and four firefighters. Draper will also send an engine along with a crew.

All are expected to stay and fight the wildfire for three weeks.

Thousands of homes and businesses have been destroyed by the more than 20 fires, which covered 190,000 acres by Thursday.

The Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands has deployed 15 engines from agencies throughout the state, said a Friday news release from the Utah Division of Emergency Management. With Saturday’s additions, there will be 29 engines from Utah heading to the region or already assisting in fighting the blaze.

The Twin Peaks Initial Attack crew, a group of 20 firefighters, was called out to Napa. That crew is set to stay in Napa for 14-21 days, depending on how the fire progresses, according to Jason Curry, spokesman for the Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands.

Lone Peak and Utah County fire engines also went to California to fight the flames.

It’s late enough in the season that some of the fire resources that may be available in the summer aren’t now, according to Kathy Jo Pollock, with the Forest Service. Some firefighters are seasonal workers, and are students who have returned to college.

So crews in California reach out to surrounding areas for extra help.

The Twin Peaks crew is digging lines, cutting brush and reinforcing roads, Curry said.

They work for 16 hours a day, sleep, and then head back out to the fire, he said.