Lamar County firefighter Quincy Blount was deployed over the weekend with the McKinney Fire Department to California to aid in fighting current wildland fires.
Since the fires began, more than 12,000 firefighters aided alongside helicopters and air tankers in battling wildfires throughout the coastal state.
According to NBC DFW, three groups of fires, called complexes, are burning north, east and south of San Francisco together scorching 991 square miles (2,566 square kilometers), and destroying more than 500 structures and killing five people.
Blount was deployed as part of the Dallas Strike team made up of several departments and is one of four firefighters from Mckinney FD who left over the weekend.
“We are deployed up to 21-days,” Blount said.
According to CAL Fire Blount and his team are leaving base camp Monday morning to work the fire line for the SCU Lightning Complex fire that has been active for 5-days, burning over 347,000 acres and is only 10 percent contained.
“We are happy to be here, to help relieve others who have been battling these fires for days,” he added. “Hopefully, we can get favorable conditions to get better containments on these blazes.”
Fire departments across Texas each year deploy firefighters around the country as part of the Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System when requested.
Photo courtesy of McKinney Fire Department.