WILLIAMS – Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today joined fire and emergency officials who are fighting the Rocky Fire for a briefing on efforts to contain the blaze, which has already destroyed dozens of homes, forced the evacuation of thousands of residents and scorched nearly 70,000 acres in Colusa, Lake and Yolo counties.
“I think this is really a real wake-up call because of the way this fire performed,” said Governor Brown. “We’re going to get ready – we have resources, we’ll need more, but you can be sure that the California firefighting personnel and all their different departments are ready and we’re going to do everything we possibly can.”
On Friday, Governor Brown declared a state of emergency in California in response to wildfires burning across the state.
Yesterday, at the request of CAL FIRE, the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services tasked the California National Guard to deploy 367 more soldiers to help cut fire breaks in vegetation and offer other vital support to firefighters battling the wildfires. The National Guard will also be building a temporary military bridge across Cache Creek at Highway 16, near the site of today’s briefing, which will help bring supplies and personnel into the area more rapidly.
After yesterday’s National Guard deployment, there are now approximately 600 California National Guard troops actively working with nearly 11,000 firefighters battling 19 active wildfires across the state. The Rocky Fire alone has already destroyed 43 homes and 53 structures and outbuildings.
Photo captions can be found below:
1.)Governor Brown greets firefighters and emergency personnel after a briefing from CAL FIRE Director Pimlott on the status of firefighting efforts.
2.)Governor Brown joins Governor’s Office of Emergency Services Director Mark Ghilarducci, National Guard Deputy Adjutant General Maj. Gen. Matthew Beevers, California Natural Resources Agency Secretary John Laird and CAL FIRE Director Ken Pimlott at Cowboy Camp, which was seriously damaged by wildfire this week.
3.)Affected community members and emergency personnel talk to the Governor about the Rocky Fire and its impacts on the community.
Photo Credit: Brad Alexander, Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. For high resolution copies of these photos, please contact Danella Debel, Office of the Governor at Danella.Debel@gov.ca.gov.