North Texas firefighters head to California to battle wildfires

FORT WORTH, Texas - Firefighters battling a large wildfire in northern California will get help from several North Texas fire departments.

The call for firefighting help is coming from the California Office of Emergency Services. Several large wildfires are burning in that state right now.

Texas will send more than 100 firefighters to help out, including firefighters from McKinney, Allen, Greenville, and Fort Worth.

The largest wildfire burning in northern-central California is called the Park Fire. It has exploded in size to exceed an area equivalent to Los Angeles and is only 12% contained.

Evacuations have been ordered for a number of towns north of Sacramento. 

Nearly 4,000 firefighters are now battling the flames, aided by numerous air tankers and helicopters.

The Park Fire has destroyed at least 66 structures so far.

Thankfully, no fatalities have been reported.

Cooler than normal weather is expected in that region this week, which will help with the suppression efforts a bit.

But that doesn’t mean the fire threat will disappear.

The Texas firefighters will be bringing 25 fire engines with them, as well as command vehicles.