MADISON, Wis. — Three Wisconsin National Guard Black Hawk helicopters are headed to California and Washington to help battle wildfires that have spread across the states.
In all, 23 soldiers will help with medevac and fire suppression efforts between the two states. One helicopter with six soldiers will help with medevac in Washington, and two helicopters with a combined 17 soldiers will work with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to dump water on the raging fires.
“The mission to California is to support CALFire wildland firefighting,” said Lt. Col. Dan Allen, commander of the Wisconsin Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 147th Aviation in Madison. “The aircraft will utilize Bambi Buckets capable of carrying up to 660 gallons of water and dropping water where needed.”
The crew headed to Washington left on Tuesday. The crews headed to California left on Friday.
Crews were deployed in September and October 2020 to help with a similar mission. Wisconsin National Guard authorities said crews train regularly on wildfire support operations.
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