Nearly 400 California Army National Guard Soldiers are called up to be trained as hand crews to fight wildfires

Nearly 400 California Army National Guard Soldiers from the Southern California 578th Brigade Engineer Battalion are called up, Aug. 2, 2016, to be trained by CAL FIRE as Type II hand crews to fight wildfires in the state. The majority of the troops have served on a fire line before but this is the first time in almost a decade that the hand crews are the main support over the aviation assets. While at Camp Roberts the Soldiers are trained on use of the tools of the trade, the shovel, the McLeod, the Pulaski, hoses, fire shelter, line cutting and more. A lesson learned from previous years are fire boots are broken in right away. Once certified teams will be transported to the Soberanes Fire near the Monterey Pennisula for up to 19 days. CAL FIRE will continue to work on putting the fire out but these men and women ranging in skill sets from a cook, a mechanic, a IT communication specialist, to a combat engineer will be used to mop up hot spots, lay miles of water hoses and clear fire breaks. Last year more than 1000 Soldiers were called up. They worked on 14 fires and cleared more than 75,000 miles of terrain. (U.S. Army National Guard photo/Master Sgt. Paul Wade)