The Oregon Office of State Fire Marshal (OSFM) is mobilizing 15 strike teams to assist with the response to California wildfires.
Using its emergency mobilization plan, and following a request made through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC), the OSFM has activated its Agency Operations Center and is sending the 15 strike teams today with equipment and personnel to join firefighting efforts. Teams will be arriving at staging areas by the end of day today.
The mobilized strike teams, comprising nearly 300 personnel total, will be sent from the following counties: Klamath, Yamhill, Linn, Columbia, Clatsop, Benton, Multnomah, Marion, Washington, Clackamas, Lincoln, Jackson, Josephine, and Lane Counties.
“The Oregon Fire Service is ready to provide assistance to California,” said Chief Deputy State Fire Marshal Mariana Ruiz-Temple. “The Oregon Fire Mutual Aid System (OFMAS) is robust and prepared to respond quickly when these formal requests are received.”
California made the request through the EMAC, a national state-to-state mutual aid system. The EMAC request is sent directly to the Oregon Office of Emergency Management. The requests allow for the OSFM to mobilize resources through the OFMAS. The teams are comprised of Oregon’s structural firefighting agencies, which provide structural firefighting and all-hazards assistance.
Oregon’s structural firefighters mobilized by the OSFM were last sent to California to respond to the Camp Fire in Paradise in November 2018.