More firefighters are leaving Florida to help fight wildfires in other states. The Florida Forest Service sent 30 firefighters and staff to California and Oregon earlier this week and 40 more will leave the state Saturday. Florida Department of Agriculture Spokeswoman Erin Gillespie says it’s not unusual to send that many firefighters to other states.
“Now, some years, Florida has a really bad fire season, we bring in firefighters from other states to help us. So, it just depends on the fire season.”
The deployed firefighters are expected to touch down in Utah, where they will receive assignments sending them to the various western states battling wildfires.
“They’ll [hand crews] be working to create what they call firebreaks, which is they’ll dig trenches and get grass trees out of the way so that the fire no longer has something to feed off of. So, they’re actually going to be building trenches around the fire to stop the fires from spreading. So, these are boots on the ground that will be battling the fires,” Gillespie added.
Gillespie says Florida can lend its resources to other states because this year, Florida hasn’t seen a high wildfire season, unlike years past.
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