California National Guard To Help Fight Colorado Wildfires
SACRAMENTO (AP) — California is sending two firefighting airplanes to help combat destructive wildfires in Colorado.
Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday directed the California National Guard to send two C-130J airplanes along with about 30 crewmembers. The aircrafts are equipped with special firefighting systems that can drop up to 3,000 gallons of water or retardant in one pass.
They are scheduled to depart from Channel Islands Air National Guard Station on Saturday morning.
Brown said California is putting its experience in fighting large-scale wildfires to work in Colorado, which is experiencing the most devastating fires in state history.
The two states have helped each other before. Colorado sent fire crews into California as recently as 2008 when more than 2,000 fires burned across the state.
The federal government is expected to reimburse costs.
(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
