Wyoming firefighters helping in Los Angeles

CODY — Seven federal employees from northern Wyoming, along with two fire engines, recently left for California to help fight the wildfires in Los Angeles and the surrounding area.

Four of the crew come from the Shoshone National Forest, one from the Bighorn National Forest and two from the Bureau of Land Management in the Big Horn Basin, said Evan Guzik, SNF public affairs officer.

On Monday night they were briefed and received maps and community plans, and they were awaiting assignments Tuesday, he added. 

The assistance on wildfires is mutual, as Wyoming got help from other states last summer.

“Folks go to other areas,” Guzik said. “It’s just the same thing in the off-season for us.”

Two of the four Shoshone employees are John Ellington, South Zone assistant fire management officer-ops, and Mike Holloway, assistant dispatch center manager. The names of the two other FS workers weren’t available.

“We sent two BLM firefighters from the district office in Worland,” said Sarah Beckwith, public affairs with the BLM Wyoming Wind River/Bighorn Basin District. “They traveled there with the FS firefighters on the FS engine.

“They aren’t assigned to a particular LA fire but are staged there and patrolling the area based on severity and will be able to respond quickly if something new pops up.”

The two fire engines that went to California are both from regional national forests - one from the Shoshone and the other from the Bighorn.