Arizona sends crews to help with deadly Los Angeles area wildfires

Jan. 9, 2025: Arizona crews working 16-hour days alongside Calif. firefighters

Arizona firefighters are among the hundreds of firefighters battling blazes in and around Los Angeles.

Rich Jones is a battalion leader with one of several Arizona-based task forces in California. He and his team are assigned to the Eaton Fire, where they’ve faced entire neighborhoods razed by the blaze.

"We drove in here on the first day, the fire was running from structure to structure, downed power lines, gas lines still burning, it’s a glimpse of destruction … total destruction," Jones said.

Jones says they are now focusing on hot spots to make sure fires don’t rekindle in the event winds kick up again. He says his teams have been working 16-hour days and will remain in Los Angeles as long as they are needed

Jan. 9, 2025: LA wildfire smoke isn't currently affecting Phoenix area

The Arizona Department of Environmental Air Quality says they are monitoring the situations and for now, wildfire smoke is not affecting the Valley. Air quality meteorologist Brody Droppleman says most of the air quality issues southern Arizona has been facing the past couple days is due to blowing dust.

"Due to a dry system that moved through the past couple days with pretty strong winds and the really dry conditions we’ve been dealing with the past few months [has] resulted in a lot of dust getting kicked up," Droppleman said.

Earlier this week some Horton fire smoke did make its way close to Fountain Hills. He says the California smoke is blowing south and that if something changes and smoke does make its way to Arizona, it would likely blow over the state.

Jan. 8, 2025: Arizona fire crews trying to fill California requests while battling Horton Fire

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The Horton Fire near Payson and several fires in the LA area have burned thousands of acres with little containment, stressing resources within the states. California has sent requests to Arizona for resources.

Tiffany Davila is with the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management. She says Arizona has sent two task forces to the LA area and is still trying to fill more requests from California.

“When we get these requests, this isn’t new, it happens all the time,” Davila said. “We get out of state resources when we need. We send our resources out of state when other states need the support.”

One of the main challenges for these fires is the workforce available. Seasonal hires are not brought on until early spring, this is an issue faced at both state and federal levels.

“We also take in consideration where we are at that time of the year. So you know, we have multiple fires going on in Arizona — we have the Horton Fire, two fires in Yuma. So we want to make sure we aren’t depleting our resources within the state,” said Davila.

Shortage of personnel also comes with a shortage of aviation resources. Davila explained that most aircraft are sent to other states after the summer season where needs are higher.

“We don’t have a lot of aircraft because they are working elsewhere,” Davila said. “Yes there are some helicopters (working the Horton Fire), but it is hard to put a lot of fixed-wing aircraft in that area.”

With the lack of precipitation and these large winter fires, Arizona department of Forestry and Fire Management are anticipating an early start to the fire season. Davila said people should start prepping their properties now.

“Protect your property and provide firefighters a safe space to work from so they can get in there and further safeguard your property from a potential wildfire,” Davila said.