Dozens of Utah firefighters on their way to Northern California to help fight fire

WEST VALLEY CITY — Dozens of Utah Firefighters from various agencies are on their way to Northern California to help out in the country’s largest wildfire.

The Park Fire, just north of Sacramento, has torched more than 425,000 acres and destroyed more than 600 structures.

“Alright let’s circle up real quick,” Riley Pilgram, Unified Fire Authority asst. chief, said as he gathered the 45 firefighters at the Maverik Center in West Valley City. “Thanks for going out, appreciate you guys doing this. Okay, what we know is we are traveling to Chico, California,” he told the group.

The firefighters are from 10 different agencies and are planning to be gone for two weeks or more to help relieve other firefighters fighting the blaze.

“It means a lot, an awesome opportunity for us to learn, get some good experience, just being able to serve the community,” Brockston Goodwin, a South Jordan firefighter that is traveling to California, said. “The whole fire world we are used to is just a big brother and sisterhood, so you know we got everyone’s back, and they’ve got ours.”

“Nice to go and help and be a part of a great task force,” Sam Ashman, a Salt Lake City firefighter, said. “They are definitely in a tough situation (in California). We are definitely proud to be able to support that.”

But the Park Fire that’s been raging since July 24 and caused thousands of evacuations can be very dangerous.

“Definitely have to be heads up, relying on our experience. Look up, look down and round,” Ashman said.

“It’s kind of head on a swivel. Safety is our number one priority. Just make sure when we go out there, we be aggressive, do our job, and everybody comes home safely in one piece,”  Pilgram said. “It’s really hot, it’s really dry. The fire behavior they are having is typically some of the worst that we’ve seen in these kinds of situations.”