The August Complex fire is now the largest fire in California's history and firefighters from across North Texas have been treveling to the west coast to help.
"We were with a Task Force of guys from all over the metroplex,"said Dallas Fire Rescue Captain Eric Moore. "Fort Worth, Plano, Lewisville, a lot of small towns around contribute firefighters and equipment to this."
It's desperately needed help in what is now the worst fire season California has ever seen.
"They've got firefighters that have been on the line now for over 55 days. That's not uncommon for these guys right now because of the season. It's so bad. So we're able to at least give them some relief that maybe they get to go home for a couple days or move to a bigger fire," Capt. Moore said.
The crew drove their engines for three days to Northern California where they began to help fight the August Complex fire. The work is challenging and exhausting.
"The big challenges up there are its very steep terrain, unfamiliar terrain for us and they are going through a very dry period of the season. It's long hours, very taxing and pretty rough conditions, sleeping on the ground at night. Those would probably be the biggest challenges."
For 18 days, the crew helped however they could.
"It was not necessarily the most sexy work but we were mopping up and making that everything was cold so that all these people could go back to their homes because they had been evacuated and hadn't been able to go home. So once you put that hard work in it allows those people to go back to a safe area and return home so yes, there is a lot of personal satisfaction with that," said Capt. Moore.
Capt. Moore says the residents and fire crews are grateful to see support all the way from Texas.
"When they see our shirts and our trucks that say Dallas, Texas and the citizens and the firefighters, they are very grateful. We get a lot of 'thank you's' and then just a lot of amazement that we'd drive out that far," he said.
We're proud to call Dallas Fire Rescue Captain Eric Moore and the Joint Wildfire Task Force this week's KRLD Difference Makers.
"That's the reason most of us got into this profession and as cliché as it sounds, it is to help," Capt. Moore said. "It's to do something that matters."
Southwest Airlines provided free flights to the firefighters back home to North Texas.
If you know someone making a difference in the community, send us an email at differencemaker@krld.com.
