BOISE, Idaho — Officials with the National Interagency Fire Center say about 200 active duty U.S. Army soldiers are being mobilized to help fight wildfires across the western United States.
Officials with the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise asked the Department of Defense for help fighting wildfires, which have burned more than 5900 square miles (15280 square kilometers) so far this year. The soldiers will be trained at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state next week and should be ready to to join hand crews on fire lines in early September.
Active duty military members have been deployed as wildland firefighters 38 times in the past 33 years.
