RED BLUFF, California – For the past two weeks, the Park Fire has been ravaging Northern California. An estimated 414,042 acres have been burned, and the wildfire is roughly 34% contained as of Tuesday according to Cal Fire.
It’s now one of the largest wildfires in California state history.
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Help has been pouring in from across the country, including from Houston. Beau Moreno, a captain with the Houston Fire Department, is leading a team right now in Red Bluff, California.
“We’re, one of four teams from the Texas area. You have a branch from central Texas, north Texas and south Texas, all the way as far as the Rio Grande Valley, assisting agencies here in California to put this fire out,” Moreno said.
Multiple factors are making the job hard, including the mountainous terrain.
“Being in the mountains is not something that we’re normally used to in Texas.”
The firefighters are also experiencing extreme heat, and the drier, hotter weather is increasing fire activity.
“The wind is favorable for the fire. The fire’s just growing. It grew 10,000 acres yesterday,” Moreno said.
A total of twenty firefighters from the Houston area are part of the strike team, and they are putting in long hours.
“Right now, we’re working 24-hour shifts,” Moreno explained. “The reason they have us for 24-hour shifts is because it takes so long to get up into the mountain. So, the crews stay up there for 24 hours. We hit hot spots. We try to keep the fire under control in the area. And then yesterday, just kind of really just blew up on us.”
Moreno also said the Park Fire is actually an arson fire that was started by an individual.
He isn’t sure how long his team is going to be in Red Bluff and said they’re seven days into a 14-day request.
However long his team is needed, Moreno hopes to take what he’s learned back home to Houston.
“This is great experience for us, to see how these large operations work. We’ll bring that training, that knowledge that we’ve just learned and bring that back to Texas and help Houstonians.”
