Residents embrace outside of a burning property as the Eaton Fire swept through Wednesday in Altadena.
HOWARD YUNE
Among the thousands of firefighters who are battling massive wildfires in the Los Angeles area are crews based in Napa County -- including a strike team helping to protect fire-ravaged Altadena.
More than 115 members of Cal Fire's Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit have headed for Southern California for the fight against historically massive wildfires, which began erupting Tuesday, destroyed thousands of homes and have caused at least five deaths.
A Napa County-based strike team with five fire engines left Monday night and initially traveled to San Bernardino County, but on Tuesday shifted to Altadena when the Eaton Fire erupted, according to Jason Clay, a Cal Fire spokesperson in Napa County.
A second Sonoma-Lake-Napa strike team headed out Wednesday to greater Los Angeles, where five wildfires have consumed nearly 28,000 acres from Altadena, Pasadena and the Hollywood Hills west to Pacific Palisades and Malibu, Clay said. Two more Cal Fire strike teams were deployed from Lake County.
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Napa County Fire, which contracts with Cal Fire, also sent an engine to Southern California with four volunteer firefighters from the Deer Park, Rutherford and Gordon Valley stations, Cal Fire said in a Facebook post. That unit was to form a strike team by joining engines and crews from fire departments in St. Helena, Calistoga and Solano County.
During a continuous 48-hour shift, the strike team sent to Altadena worked to defend buildings along North Altadena Drive and East Washington Boulevard, in a densely populated area, before moving to other locations, Clay said Wednesday.
The Eaton Fire is one of two major wildfires that remained uncontained on Thursday. To the west, the Palisades Fire had spread over 17,234 acres, and Los Angeles city Fire Chief Kristin Crowley estimated the number of destroyed or damaged buildings will be in the thousands.
More than 180,000 people are under evacuation orders tied to the various fires in Los Angeles County.
Cal Fire's Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit keeps a wintertime fire suppression staff of about 330 and has been able to send crews south while maintaining local coverage, according to Clay.
"With our staffing levels, we can meet that need for all the engines we have sent out," he said Wednesday night.
Meanwhile, Calistoga Fire on Wednesday announced it has sent firefighters to join a strike team -- comprising Napa and Solano County members -- battling the Hurst Fire, which broke out Tuesday in Sylmar in the San Fernando Valley. As of Thursday morning, Cal Fire reported the fire had grown to 671 acres and was 10% contained.
Overall, more than 7,500 state firefighting and emergency workers have been sent to the Los Angeles area for the firefighting effort, according to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who declared a state of emergency Tuesday for fire-threatened areas.
The effort has included 1,040 firefighters deployed through the state's mutual aid system, along with engines and crews from Oregon, Washington state, New Mexico, Utah and Idaho.
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