Associated Press
ALBANY, N.Y. — New York firefighters are heading to the West Coast to help contain wildfires there.
They are expected to stay two weeks with travel and administrative costs paid by the U.S. Forest Service or reimbursed to New York.
State officials say the crew of 20 employees and volunteers from the Department of Environmental Conservation will join firefighters from other states for deployment wherever they are most needed.
Earlier this year, the DEC sent two state forest rangers to help.
During five years of drought, California’s wildlands have seen a continuous streak of destructive and sometimes deadly fires.
New York has sent personnel to help fight western wildfires since 1979, on average sending one or two crews each year.