JTF California wraps up work on Dixie Fire
Active duty Soldiers augment Cal Guard missions on state’s largest single wildfire.
by Lauren Padden
National Interagency Fire Center
Oct. 8, 2021
SAN ANTONIO, Texas - On Aug. 30, about 200 Soldiers from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, joined in Cal Guard's efforts to support their interagency partners fighting the Dixie Fire in Northern California.
Known as Joint Task Force California, the team was comprised of Cal Guard Soldiers working alongside active duty Soldiers to form what's called a "dual status" task force.
JTF California worked under the command of a dual status commander, U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Smiley, who led hundreds of additional Soldiers and Airmen serving on the ground and in the air. While serving as dual status commander, Smiley took a pause from his work as Cal Guard's director of the joint staff.
Task force members served on Type II firefighting hand crews, flew and maintained helicopters to support water bucket missions, and served as military police for traffic control and security in evacuated areas.
Together, the National Guard and U.S. Air Force also provided eight C-130s equipped with Modular Airborne Fire Fighting Systems to help fight fires from the air across the Western states.
The Dixie Fire, which started July 13, is the largest single wildfire in California’s history. It has burned just shy of one million acres across the Plumas National Forest, Lassen National Forest, Lassen Volcanic National Park, and in five counties.
The fire is currently 94% contained with small pockets of vegetation burning around its perimeter.
JTF California concluded its operations Sept. 29 at the request of the National Interagency Fire Center, and in support of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service, U.S. Army North, U.S. Northern Command’s Joint Force Land Component Command.
“As defenders of the homeland, it is our duty and our honor to support the National Interagency Fire Center’s efforts to suppress the Dixie Fire and protect those threatened by it,” said Lt. Gen. John R. Evans, Jr., ARNORTH commander. “I am incredibly proud of our Soldiers for adapting so quickly to this new environment and unique mission, and achieving, alongside our interagency partners, 94 percent containment of the fire.”
The JFLCC, through USNORTHCOM, is the primary Department of Defense organization for coordinating defense support of civil authorities to help federal partners, like NIFC, respond to natural or man-made disasters.
Maj. Kimberly Holman contributed to this report.
U.S. Army Soldiers from the 23rd Brigade Engineer Battalion, 1-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, assigned to Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, and representatives from the National Interagency Fire Center, work as a team to move a piece of a fallen tree trunk onto the side of the road while in support of the Department of Defense wildland firefighting response operations on the Dixie Fire in Lassen National Forest, California, Sept. 22. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Yesenia Barajas)
U.S. Army Soldiers from the 23rd Brigade Engineer Battalion, 1-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, assigned to Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, and representatives from the National Interagency Fire Center, work as a team to move a piece of a fallen tree trunk onto the side of the road while in support of the Department of Defense wildland firefighting response operations on the Dixie Fire in Lassen National Forest, California, Sept. 22. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Yesenia Barajas)
U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Smiley, Joint Task Force California commander, center, greets Frank Guzman, U.S. Forest Services, left, and Heath Cota, National Interagency Fire Center, right, during a Sept. 10 visit with Soldiers working the Dixie Fire in the town of Quincy. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Yesenia Barajas)
U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Smiley, Joint Task Force California commander, center, greets Frank Guzman, U.S. Forest Services, left, and Heath Cota, National Interagency Fire Center, right, during a Sept. 10 visit with Soldiers working the Dixie Fire in the town of Quincy. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Yesenia Barajas)
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