A helicopter crew with the Nevada Army National Guard is heading to California to assist with the Park Fire.
This is the first time the Nevada Army National Guard is helping with a California wildfire since the Caldor Fire in 2021.
The 11-person crew will head to Red Bluff in Tehama County for at least a week.
They will be working closely with Cal Fire to assist them however they can, because California has already exhausted all of their available resources.
"So, we get called out when it is serious, and it takes a request from both governors and the governor comes down to our adjutant general and the Nevada National Guard, and throughout division of emergency management, and then they activate us, and we put our crews together," said Colonel Matt Jonkey with the Nevada Army National Guard.
The first crew heading to Red Bluff is a part of Aircraft 860.
The crew's main focus is to relieve stress from the crews on the ground.
"We drop water near structures saving houses, providing time for firefighters to cut fire lines, save people, save animals. So, it really just comes to what they want us to do. Our job is not to put out the fire, we don't carry enough water to put out the fire, our job is to buy time for people that can put out the fire," said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Scott Taylor, Pilot in command for Aircraft 860.
The crew can fly up to eight hours, and they will only operate during the daytime.
The Black Hawk helicopter they are flying has what is called a "Bambi Bucket" that can pick up water quickly and hold around 660 gallons of water.
This crew will not use retardant at all this trip, so Cal Fire must stay in close contact with them, so they know where to keep getting water from.
"The bodies of water are already pre-determined as dip sites, and so the Cal Fire agencies will tell us where we are picking up our water. It can be anything from a small stream as long as we can get our bucket into it depending upon what capabilities whether we have to fully submerge the bucket or if we have a power fill where we can just put it into a very shallow 1 to 2 feet of water," said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Scott Taylor, Pilot in command for Aircraft 860.
He also says they can approach the dip site and leave with a full Bambi Bucket all within about 90 seconds.
The Nevada Army National Guard says these types of missions can get very difficult for the crew, but they spend a lot of time throughout the year to prepare.
The Black Hawk crew with Aircraft 860 left Tuesday just before noon.
On Wednesday, another crew will fly a Chinook to Red Bluff as well to provide support.
