August 16, 2023 - SACRAMENTO – Following action last week to support Hawaii, Governor Gavin Newsom announced the deployment of additional wildfire recovery personnel to Hawaii as well as wildland fire strike teams to Oregon to help battle ongoing wildfires.

WHAT TO KNOW: California is deploying 201 specialized personnel, 25 vehicles, and more resources to help our neighbors in Hawaii and Oregon
 
WHAT GOVERNOR NEWSOM SAID: “I’ve been in close contact with our neighbors in Hawaii and Oregon as they deal with these devastating wildfires, and they know that California has their back – we’re doing everything we can to help.”
 
HAWAII: Governor Newsom instructed his Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) to coordinate the deployment of 101 state and local government personnel in total to Hawaii:

• 69-member Incident Management Team from CAL FIRE (67 members) and Cal OES (2 members) to support overall incident management;
• Three Cal OES wildfire debris removal and hazardous waste experts;
• One Cal OES recovery professional in maximizing community-based federal funding;
• One Cal OES Fire and Rescue personnel specialized in urban search and rescue (US&R);
• One Cal OES mass fatality incident management expert;
• 12 US&R Task Force members;
• 10 local government K-9 teams;
• Four forensic anthropologists.

OREGON: As multiple wildfires continue to burn across the west slope of the Cascades in Oregon, Governor Newsom directed Cal OES to deploy five firefighting strike teams to provide additional capacity as firefighters battle the Lookout and Bedrock fires:

• 25 engines and 100 personnel are deploying to Oregon from Alameda, San Mateo, San Bernardino, Riverside, and San Diego counties.

Last year, California deployed firefighters, disaster recovery experts and other personnel to Oregon, New Mexico and Montana. In 2021, California sent firefighting equipment and personnel to assist Oregon’s response to the Bootleg Fire.

This request for aid comes through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC), a national inter-state mutual aid agreement which allows states to request and send personnel, equipment and commodities to assist with response and recovery efforts in other states.
Source: Office of the Governor