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144 Arizona Firefighters Deployed To Battle California Wildfires

144 Arizona firefighters with 42 engines have been deployed to California to help fight wildfires. Several crews have been assigned to the 70,000 acre Woolsey Fire burning in Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

Tiffany Davila is with the Department of Forestry and Fire Management. She said those crews could have a number of different tasks.

“They’ll be acting as back fill for local fire departments," Davila said. "They’ll get assignments to a fire to help with suppression efforts on some of the fires that are burning there right now, or they’ll be staging. They’re expecting another big wind event there. So they’ll be staging for possible fires that could start from that next wind event”

The Arizona crews could be in California for two weeks or more. Some of the crews represented include those of Tucson, Pinetop, Peoria and Nogales. 

Senior field correspondent Bridget Dowd has a bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.