Update July 10, 2021
The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services is sending two additional strike teams to Oregon to assist with the Bootleg Fire. The two strike teams consist of Type 3 engines from Anaheim, Fullerton, Laguna Beach, City of Orange, Long Beach, Escondido, San Marcos, Rancho Santa Fe, Carlsbad and Oceanside fire departments.
Taking action to protect communities endangered by wildfires in Oregon, Governor Gavin Newsom today announced that the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) has deployed firefighting equipment and personnel to our northern neighbors through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC). Two strike teams consisting of Type 3 and Type 6 engines from Fremont, Oakland, Hayward, Alameda County, South San Francisco, San Bruno, Central, San Mateo and Kentfield fire departments are providing assistance on the Bootleg Fire in Klamath County, Oregon.
All agencies mobilized to Oregon on July 8 and will be actively supporting the incident today. Type 3 and Type 6 engines are the most used engines for wildland urban interface fires and are known for their off-road and maneuverability capabilities.
As of July 9, the Bootleg Fire has burned more than 38,000 acres – doubling the amount from the previous day – in the Fremont-Winema National Forest and private lands approximately 11 miles northeast of the town of Sprague River. Extreme fire behavior has resulted in growth to the south and east, leading to additional evacuation orders. The fire is one percent contained.
Cal OES continues to monitor operations in Oregon and requests for additional EMAC assistance. EMAC, which includes the participation of all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands, is a nationally recognized mutual-aid system that provides the foundation for states to request and send resources across their borders when impacted by a disaster.
California has regularly offered support to assist in response and recovery for disasters throughout the United States and internationally through EMAC requests. Since 1992, California-based State/National Urban Search and Rescue Task Forces have been deployed to a long list of other state, national, and even international disasters including 2017’s Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, 1992 Hurricane Iniki (Hawaii), the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing, Hurricane Katrina, the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami catastrophe, the 2017 Mexico City, the 2015 Nepal Earthquake, and numerous hurricanes in 2018. Similarly, Oregon has offered firefighting resources and assets to California over the years on numerous historic wildfires.
Click here for the latest updates on the Oregon wildfires. For more information on the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, follow this link.