At the request of the Oklahoma Emergency Management Department and with the authorization of Gov. Kevin Stitt, members of the state's Army National Guard are responding to wildfires in northwest Oklahoma using UH-60 Black Hawks and ground hand crews.
"The Oklahoma National Guard stands ready and equipped with both aerial and ground capacities to support our partner agencies in the state," said Army Brig. Gen. Bob Walter, assistant adjutant general for Oklahoma. "We have been in continuous communication with the Office of Emergency Management, the Department of Public Safety and Forestry Services for close coordination."
The buckets used by National Guard helicopter crews hold up to 660 gallons of water that can be dropped directly on fires or in areas where incident commanders and firefighters want to prevent spread. In addition to aerial support, the Oklahoma Army National Guard is also providing ground support.
"We have two wildland firefighting crews of eight to 10 red-card-certified firefighters on state active duty working for the incident command," Walter said.
In the past two years, the Oklahoma National Guard Wildland Firefighting program has trained 130 red-card-certified guardsmen and currently has 80 certified firefighters within the state.
Once a support request is submitted through the Oklahoma Emergency Management Department and approved by the governor, planners assigned to the Oklahoma National Guard's Domestic Operations Office begin working with local incident commanders and develop a plan to best support firefighting operations.
"I'm very thankful for the National Guard and the expertise that they have to be part of this response," said Blayne Arthur, Oklahoma agriculture secretary. "We appreciate the opportunity to work collaboratively with them."