A MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter shown in 2014 assisting in aerial firefighting at Camp Pendleton, Calif. Ten Navy helicopters are now being deployed to help fight wildfires in California, the Pentagon announced Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. (U.S. Navy)
WASHINGTON — The Defense Department is sending 10 Navy helicopters to help fight wildfires in California, U.S. officials said Wednesday.
The helicopters will be equipped with water-delivery buckets, the White House and the Defense Department said in separate announcements. The Pentagon was unable to say from which installations the helicopters would be deployed or when they would arrive in the area.
“Right now, we can’t even get assets up in the air because the fires are so bad and because the winds are so bad,” said Sabrina Singh, deputy press secretary for the Pentagon.
The helicopters were authorized following President Joe Biden’s direction to the Defense Department to provide firefighting personnel and capabilities after massive wildfires roared through the Los Angeles area Wednesday, killing at least two people as desperate residents escaped through flames, hurricane-force winds and towering columns of smoke.
Three major blazes that erupted just a day earlier blanketed the city with a dangerous, thick cloud of smoke and ash and destroyed homes across the metropolitan area, from the Pacific Coast inland to Pasadena, home of the famed Rose Parade.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom posted on X that California had deployed more than 1,400 firefighting personnel to combat the blazes. He also dispatched National Guard troops to help. Firefighters from neighboring states also were being asked to assist.
“We’re doing anything and everything and as long as it takes to contain these fires… to make sure you get back to normal. It’s going to be a hell of a long way. It’s going to take time,” Biden said while visiting affected areas Wednesday.
The helicopters will support National Guard units from California and Nevada. Both states are readying two modular airborne firefighting systems. The firefighting equipment, loaded into the cargo compartment of a C-130 aircraft, can drop up to 3,000 gallons of water or fire retardant in six seconds through a nozzle on the rear left side of the plane.
The Defense Department is also authorizing four additional National Guard modular airborne firefighting systems to assist with fighting the wildfires.
“The president has directed the Department of Defense to feed into what California needs,” Singh said. “Until we can get additional air support in the air, we are standing by ready to support California.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
