Four strike teams from Cal Fire’s Santa Clara unit are fighting wildfires up north.

But not to worry, if something happens that the skeleton crew left behind can’t handle, other crews nearby will step into the void.

It’s called “Assistance by Hire” or Mutual Aid by Contract.

For every strike team dispatched to a fire and won’t be going home any time soon, another crew will be called in from a nearby jurisdiction to take its place, says Cal Fire’s Pam Temmerman.

“It’s like dropping a pebble in a pond and the rings just keep going out more and more, and we call in more resources as needed,” Temmerman said.

For example, crews from Morgan Hill, San Jose, and Spring Valley near Milpitas are handling the territory that would otherwise be the responsibility of those strike teams currently on assignment, says Temmerman.

“We hire their personnel to come into our jurisdiction and staff our station for us, essentially their engines work just as ours do,” Temmerman said. “They respond to calls just like what we do, regardless of what kind of call it is.”

As we saw earlier this month on the Curie and Country fires, San Jose firefighters are trained to fight wildfires, just as Cal Fire crews are trained to handle structure fires and other emergencies. The problem is that with no fewer than 17 different fires burning across the state right now, even with mutual aid, resources are being stretched ever thinner.

‘When that fire breaks, the resources closest to the fire will respond first and then they’ll call for equipment farther and farther out,” Temmerman said. “That’s why we’re getting the call for help here in the bay area to send equipment.”

In most cases, the crews don’t actually pick up and move to other fire stations.

In this case, Morgan Hill fire is already stationed at the Cal Fire base, while the San Jose crews covering for the strike teams are being dispatched from their usual base at Station 27 in South San Jose.

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