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At the request of the Oregon Department of Forestry, Governor Kate Brown mobilized an additional 125 citizen-soldiers from the Oregon National Guard to help support the Chetco Bar fire response. This is in addition to the more than 100 citizen-airmen and citizen-soldiers activated earlier this month who are currently on the fire lines near Crater Lake.
The request was made through an ongoing agreement the Oregon Military Department has with the Oregon Department of Forestry known as Operation Plan Smokey, which stipulates the details of how Oregon National Guard members will be utilized to assist in firefighting efforts. This agreement is reviewed annually by leadership of both agencies with training provided by DPSST at the Oregon Public Safety Academy once the Governor approves the activation of citizen-soldiers and citizen-airmen.
"Our local and state responders, as well as nearby community members, are facing a very challenging fire in the Brookings area," Governor Brown said. "These additional resources are needed to prevent further harm. I thank these service members and their families for their sacrifice."
The Guard members arrived this afternoon at the Oregon Public Safety Academy in Salem where they will receive their firefighting personal protective equipment and wildland firefighter training from staff at the Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training (DPSST) and the Oregon Department of Forestry.
The training provided to the Oregon National Guard is the same training required of all public and private wildland firefighters. The training will be delivered over four long-days, instead of five, eight-hour days, so that the citizen-soldiers can join the fire lines at the Chetco Bar Fire sooner.
With the additional activation there are approximately 400 citizen-soldiers and citizen-airmen supporting Oregon's firefighting efforts. Oregon Army national Guard helicopters have dropped nearly 700,000 gallons of water to help contain what is the largest firefighting effort in the nation near Brookings spanning more than 102,000 acres.