Governor Newsom authorizes advance deployment of firefighting teams in five northern California counties

The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) has approved the predeployment of firefighting resources to El Dorado, Nevada, Plumas, Sierra, and Trinity counties in anticipation of hazardous fire weather conditions. The move is being made on behalf of Governor Gavin Newsom.

A total of 23 fire engines, eight water tenders, two dispatchers, and six support personnel will be stationed in these areas ahead of expected high temperatures, low humidity, and dry lightning. According to Cal OES, this action supplements earlier deployments last month that responded to similar critical fire weather across the state. During that period, 78 fire engines, 20 water tenders, nine bulldozers, five helicopters, 10 hand crews, 16 dispatchers, and two Incident Management Teams were sent to 13 counties—including Inyo, Kern, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Sierra, Nevada, Plumas, Placer, Calaveras and Trinity—to assist with fire suppression efforts.

Local agencies determine when additional resources are needed based on local conditions and coordinate requests with the state. Staging locations and response assignments are managed by local officials.

“These efforts ensure that resources are ready to respond quickly minimizing the potential impact of new fires. This proactive approach has proven to be a critical component of California’s wildfire response strategy reducing response times and containing fires before they escalate into major incidents,” according to Cal OES.

The predeployment program operates alongside California’s Fire and Rescue Mutual Aid System for statewide emergency support as required.

Residents in affected areas are advised to prepare a wildfire action plan—this includes planning evacuation routes and packing essential items in a go-bag. Californians should sign up for local emergency alerts for timely updates about changing conditions. Heat safety information specific to each area can be found at https://calheatscore.calepa.ca.gov/. For general preparedness tips or more information on fire safety visit https://ready.ca.gov/.