MENDOCINO NAIONAL FOREST, Calif. – Nearly 600 California-based U.S. Forest Service wildland firefighters and support personnel have been mobilized to wildfires in Arizona and New Mexico.

The personnel that are part of this mobilization come from all 18 national forests in California that make up the Pacific Southwest Region.

Among the firefighting resources are 19 engines, 18 fire crews (20-person) including three hotshot crews, a helicopter and over 100 specialists such as dispatchers, safety officers, aviation managers and fire prevention patrols.

The Mendocino Hotshots are one of the three hotshot crews assigned to the Southwest.

“We have the largest wildland fire response organization in the country,” said Jeanne Wade Evans, deputy regional forester for the Pacific Southwest Region. “We’re prepared for our wildfire season in California and have the capacity to provide these national firefighting resources to the Forests and communities in the Southwest.”

California experienced one of the wettest winters on record and fire activity on national forest lands in the state has been minimal thus far.

The U.S. Forest Service has about 5,000 firefighters in California for the 2017 season.

For interagency wildfire information nationwide, visit InciWeb at: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/ . For additional information on wildfires in the Southwest visit http://www.wildlandfire.az.gov/ (Arizona) and https://nmfireinfo.com/ (New Mexico).