Defense- The US Army is preparing to send hundreds of active-duty soldiers to combat raging wildfires in the Western US.
- The soldiers will come from the 7th Infantry Division's 14th Brigade Engineer Battalion, according to an Army press release.
- There are more than one hundred wildfires blazing across 11 Western states, and these disasters have already claimed the lives of nine people.
The US Army is preparing to send hundreds of soldiers to fight the deadly wildfires raging in 11 states across the Western US.
Two hundred active-duty soldiers from the 7th Infantry Division's 14th Brigade Engineer Battalion at Joint Base Lewis McChord in Washington state will be mobilized to assist in ongoing firefighting efforts, according to a statement from US Army North, which provides operational control for ground forces deployed in support missions during national disasters.
The Army unit will be sent out this weekend after training. The soldiers will be organized into teams of 20 members and deployed to combat fires in an unspecified area. The 14th Brigade Engineer Battalion reportedly specializes in construction and demolition, skills that the unit has used in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Fox News.
"More than 127 wildfires are burning on about 1.6 million acres in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona and Alaska," according to a statement from the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.
At least nine people have died in the wildfires spreading across the Western US, according to CBS News. President Donald Trump declared the situation in California a "major disaster" Sunday, making it easier for local residents to secure access to much-needed government assistance.
In many cases, the state National Guard units are already assisting state and federal agencies working tirelessly to put out the devastating wildfires.