News data from CAL FIRE helps to reiterate the strain that statewide fires have placed on local firefighting services. Since the late June lighting storms began sparking blazes across Northern California, the Amador El Dorado Unit of CAL FIRE has sent over ninety personnel, eleven engines and eight hand crews to help fight hundreds of wildfires. The Amador El Dorado Unit is budgeted to staff 13 fire engines normally, but by freezing everyone on duty, the unit is staffing 19 fire engines. Only five fire engines remain in the home unit to protect over a million acres. Eight out of nine local fire crews have been on assignment statewide for weeks. As a result, the Amador Unit formed two ad hoc hand crews using engine company firefighters to protect our local area and keep another major fire from erupting. In addition, CAL FIRE has hired several local fire district engine companies to staff our state fire stations. The personnel sent to assist with the fires are assigned to frontline firefighting or supporting major firefighting operations. Local firefighters provide a variety of support roles that range from mixing and loading air tanker retardant, supervising the inmate crews staffing mobile kitchens, repairing fire engines, and providing training and support to the military personnel and aircraft that have come to CAL FIRE’s assistance. For More information on the many fires burning statewide, including counties declared as disasters by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, go to www.fire.ca.gov.