Team members from Lebanon Fire District joined a Linn County structural task force to fight the McKinney Fire.
The Oregon Office of State Fire Marshal (OSFM) has mobilized three structural task forces at the request of California to the McKinney Fire. The fire is burning in near Klamath, Calif. The task forces are from Marion, Linn, & Clackamas counties. They will be tasked with protecting communities.
The OSFM received the request for resources from California through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC). These three taskforces are made up of 41 firefighters, 12 engines and three water tenders. The task forces left for California Sunday morning, July 31.
OSFM’s priority is Oregon and its communities. Currently, the OSFM has no activations or mobilizations of the Oregon fire service in Oregon. Oregon uses the Oregon Fire Mutual Aid System (OFMAS) to respond to local, regional and statewide fires. With weather and fire activity, OSFM feels comfortable that the OFMAS has the capacity, should resources be needed.
“Our office has a long-standing mutual aid relationship with Cal OES, and we are more than willing to lend a helping hand,” Oregon State Fire Marshal Mariana Ruiz-Temple said. “Last summer, California sent resources to help on the Bootleg Fire in our time of need. The partnership between our two states has the same end goal, protecting communities and saving lives.”
The task forces will be in California for up to two weeks.
For the latest on the McKinney Fire, visit https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/8287/ and https://www.facebook.com/KlamathNF
ABOUT RESPONSE READY OREGON
The OSFM’s Response Ready Oregon initiative was created to help bolster capacity and modernize wildfire response within the Oregon Fire Mutual Aid System (OFMAS). The goal of Response Ready Oregon is to attack fires while they are small and keep them away from communities. To learn more about the OSFM, OFMAS, or Response Ready Oregon, visit oregon.gov/osp/programs/sfm.