{"id":358293,"date":"2025-01-20T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-21T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=358293"},"modified":"2025-01-21T19:13:29","modified_gmt":"2025-01-21T19:13:29","slug":"national-guard-members-continue-la-wildfire-response","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=358293","title":{"rendered":"National Guard Members Continue LA Wildfire Response"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Spc. Ruben Ramirez, asssigned to the 149th Chemical Company, California Army National Guard, mans a traffic control point in Pacific Palisades, California, Jan. 16, 2025, in the aftermath of wildfires that devastated the area. The unit has been operating traffic control points and providing roving patrols in areas affected by the wildfires to ensure safety and security in the area.
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LOS ANGELES \u2014 U.S. Army Sgt. Ricardo Hernandez watched from a cross street as sporadic traffic passed on the Pacific Coast Highway near Pacific Palisades. The late afternoon sun glinted off his sunglasses as a man on a bicycle rode up to his location.<\/p>\n

A light-wheeled vehicle mechanic with the 149th Chemical Company, California Army National Guard, Hernandez\u2019s duty \u2014 staffing a traffic control point \u2014 was different than his normal duties under the hood.<\/p>\n

The man on the bike, a resident looking for updated information on wildfires that devastated the Los Angeles area, was like many who approached Hernandez at the checkpoint.<\/p>\n

\u201cI referred him to a website where he could find that information,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Hernandez was one of the roughly 600 Soldiers of Task Force 49, made up primarily of Soldiers with the California Army Guard\u2019s 49th Military Police Brigade and responsible for safety and security in many areas impacted by the wildfires.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe currently have two missions: traffic control points and we also have roving patrols,\u201d said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Manny Arino, commander of TF 49.<\/p>\n

Both missions are designed to prevent both looting and people coming back into areas that local authorities haven\u2019t yet cleared, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of the damage that they have in these areas, it\u2019s just not safe for the public to come in right now,\u201d said Arino.<\/p>\n

More than 2,700\u00a0National Guard members have responded to the wildfires. In addition to security operations, Guard members have assisted in firefighting efforts on the ground and in the air.<\/p>\n

Ground efforts were undertaken by Task Force Rattlesnake, a joint task force that integrates California Army and Air National Guard members with CALFIRE, the state agency responsible for wildfire response.<\/p>\n

\u201cCALFIRE offers us facilities, training, captains and stuff like that, while the California National Guard offers the Soldiers who volunteer to go out there and fight wildfires,\u201d said U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Deng Deng, with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, California Army Guard and a member of TF Rattlesnake.<\/p>\n

Air National Guard aircrews flew C-130 Hercules aircraft equipped with the Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System. Nestled in the cargo area of the aircraft, MAFFS can drop 3,200 gallons of fire retardant or water in seconds.<\/p>\n

\u201cBasically, we provide an aerial firefighting capability, again, in support of civil assets,\u201d said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Matt Schwegel, a C-130 pilot with the 152nd Airlift Wing, Nevada Air National Guard.<\/p>\n

Four units \u2014 three Air Guard and one Air Force Reserve \u2014 fly the MAFFS mission with eight aircraft.<\/p>\n

The Air Guard units include Schwegel\u2019s unit and the 146th Airlift Wing, California Air National Guard, and the Wyoming Air National Guard\u2019s 153rd Airlift Wing. All eight aircraft and crews were called in to support wildfire response efforts in the Los Angeles area.<\/p>\n

For Schwegel, it\u2019s been a rewarding mission.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s our opportunity to actually make a difference and help out,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s gratifying to be a part of that, to be able to do something and not stay in Nevada and just watch it transpire when you know you have a capability and a skill set to help.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also a challenging and exciting mission to fly.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a rush,\u201d said Schwegel. \u201cOur performance envelope is extremely tight. On this, we\u2019re within 10 to 20 knots of our stall speed, we\u2019re max gross weight, and on the drop, we\u2019re 150 feet-ish off the terrain, which is about half of the altitude of a normal tactical airdrop that we do as part of our combat airlift mission set.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schwegel said flying the MAFFS mission is a direct application of skills used to fly combat missions, and it hones the pilots\u2019 abilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt brings the best out of our pilots\u2019 flying in that you\u2019re really focused on flying tight parameters because there\u2019s not a lot of slop, not a lot of forgiveness,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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\n U.S. Army Sgt. Bryce Carter, an infantryman with C Company, 1st Battalion, 160th Infantry Regiment, California Army National Guard, sharpens the blade of a hoe to clear brush and other debris as part of remediation efforts along the Mulholland Trail near Tarzana, California, in the aftermath of the Palisades Fire, Jan. 18, 2025. Carter and other members of his unit were assisting CALFIRE in mop-up efforts, which included clearing brush and backfilling firebreaks and other areas to prevent mudslides and reduce the impact of firefighting efforts.
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Guard members also participated in mop-up efforts after the fires, ensuring burning embers were extinguished and repairing damage from initial firefighting efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe goal is to clean up the mess that was made by initial attack efforts,\u201d said CALFIRE Capt. Albert Galli, who led a clean-up crew consisting of California Army Guard Soldiers and CALFIRE personnel.<\/p>\n

During firefighting, firebreaks, or lines, were built using bulldozers and hand crews to stop the fire\u2019s progress. Those lines are no longer needed in areas where the fire is out; remediation prevents further damage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we don\u2019t want to have happen is when the rains come, we get a large water flow down these dozer lines and these hand lines,\u201d said Galli. \u201cWe can mitigate any flooding issues or mud flows by diverting it with water bars or completely covering up these dozer lines and hand lines.\u201d<\/p>\n

The integration between CALFIRE and the Guard is \u201calmost seamless,\u201d said Galli.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause CALFIRE is a paramilitary organization, working with the military just seems to work,\u201d he said. \u201cSome of the lingo and the jargon is different, but as far as forming up and performing a mission, we all are good at our job, which is just achieving a common goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Galli said he loves working with Guard Soldiers and Airmen.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that just a few days after training and meeting them I can give them a simple task and they\u2019re going to perform it well,\u201d he said, adding that Guard members don\u2019t need a lot of training.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey already have a lot of the knowledge and the experience, not in firefighting, but in life experience and combat training,\u201d said Galli. \u201cAnd so, they just are ready to work and I think that\u2019s impressive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some Guard members were also personally affected by the wildfires.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have two Soldiers that were impacted, directly impacted, by this fire. One of them lost his house,\u201d said Arino, adding he told them they didn\u2019t need to be part of the response mission.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey wanted to come out,\u201d he said. \u201cThey wanted to come out here and be part of the mission. Because, again, these are Soldiers from your community and they, they\u2019re personally invested in making sure their communities are safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deng, who was part of Galli\u2019s clean-up crew, agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been amazing, honestly, not just helping people out of fires, but preventing fires from happening,\u201d he said. \u201cBeing in the National Guard, you feel like, hey, California is my home. California is what I want to protect most. And anything that\u2019s going on here, I am willing to volunteer and help out as much as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more National Guard news<\/a><\/p>\n

National Guard Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n

National Guard X<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spc. Ruben Ramirez, asssigned to the 149th Chemical Company, California Army National Guard, mans a traffic control point in Pacific Palisades, California, Jan. 16, 2025, in the aftermath of wildfires that devastated the area. The unit has been operating traffic control points and providing roving patrols in areas affected by the wildfires to ensure safety […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358295,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-358293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=358293"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":358298,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358293\/revisions\/358298"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/358295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=358293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=358293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=358293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}