Capt. Cynthia L. Jones, California Army National Guard’s military liaison (MFL) for CAL FIRE during the Rocky Fire, discusses upcoming operations with Jim Ritchie of the Santa Rosa Fire Department at the Helibase Operations Center in Middletown, Calif. Jones, commander of Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 1126th Aviation Regiment, coordinates firefighting operations with CAL FIRE and the California Guard’s air assets that include three CH-47 Chinooks, two UH-60 Black Hawks and one LUH-72 Lakota for the Rocky Fire. (U.S. Army National Guard photo/Staff Sgt. Eddie Siguenza)
Pfc. Oscar Gonzales, left, and Sgt. Michael S. Sloan of 1st Battalion, 126th Aviation Regiment, California Army National Guard, refuel and perform maintenance on a LUH-72 Lakota Aug. 1 at the Middletown Helibase, Middletown, Calif. The Soldiers are part of the first California National Guard crews to assist in the ongoing Rocky Fire, which consumed more than 45,000 acres in Yolo, Lake and Colusa Counties in Northern California. (U.S. Army National Guard photo/Staff Sgt. Eddie Siguenza)
Pfc. Oscar Gonzales, left, and Sgt. Michael S. Sloan of 1st Battalion, 126th Aviation Regiment, California Army National Guard, refuel and perform maintenance on a LUH-72 Lakota Aug. 1 at the Middletown Helibase, Middletown, Calif. The Soldiers are part of the first California National Guard crews to assist in the ongoing Rocky Fire, which consumed more than 45,000 acres in Yolo, Lake and Colusa Counties in Northern California. (U.S. Army National Guard photo/Staff Sgt. Eddie Siguenza)
Spc. Abraham Jimenez of 1st Battalion, 126th Aviation Regiment, California Army National Guard, recoils a fuel hose after pumping up a LUH-72 Lakota helicopter Aug. 1 at Middletown Helibase, Middletown, Calif., during early operations of the Rocky Fire. (U.S. Army National Guard photo/Staff Sgt. Eddie Siguenza)
Sgt. Michael S. Sloan of the Delta Company, 1st Battalion, 140th Aviation Battalion from Los Alamitos, Calif., repaints the electric salmon-colored portion of a California Army National Guard LUH-72 Lakota used in the Rocky Fire in Lake, Yolo and Colusa Counties, California, early August 2015. (U.S. Army National Guard photo/Staff Sgt. Eddie Siguenza)
A “Bambi Bucket” scoops water out of the Dam Dip location near Middletown and Clear Lake, Calif., Aug. 1 as civilian and California Army National Guard helicopters assist controlling the Rocky Fire in Northern California. (U.S. Army National Guard photo/Staff Sgt. Eddie Siguenza)
Spc. Abraham Jimenez, Pfc. Oscar Gonzales and Pvt. Brandon Johnson of 1st Battalion, 126th Aviation Regiment, work as fuelers for their California Army National Guard unit. The trio assisted the Rocky Fire in Lake County, Northern California, early August, by keeping helicopters such as one flying above them airborne to drop water on the wildfire that consumed more than 45,000 acres in less than a week. (U.S. Army National Guard photo/Staff Sgt. Eddie Siguenza)
Civilian Helicopters contracted by CAL FIRE rotate dropping and transporting water onto grass fires during the Aug. 1 Rocky Fire near Middletown and Clear Lake, Calif. The helicopters traded duties with California National Guard choppers that were called up recently by CAL FIRE to assist with the containment of California’s raging fires. (U.S. Army National Guard photo/Staff Sgt. Eddie Siguenza)
