California Pulls National Guard Troops from Trump's Border Effort to Tackle Fire Protection

“They will be boots on the ground doing fuels projects alongside Cal Fire crews,” Mohler said. “We’ve had them out for flood fighting, several different operations, but this would be the first time their mission would be fuels thinning and forest management.”

They have helped fight fires before, however.

Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was the first in recent decades to deploy California National Guard troops as firefighters, dispatching them on July 4, 2008, after lightning storms sparked hundreds of fires, Guard Lt. Col. Jonathan Shiroma said.

While many of the troops are being reassigned from the border this time, the Guard also is asking other service members if they want to participate, Shiroma said.

The training is similar for firefighting and fire protection. Mohler said the troops also will receive some training in forest management, “so they’re not just out there cutting brush” but understand why they’re doing what they’re doing.

For instance, firefighting crews generally cut fire lines down to mineral earth during active wildfires, while fuels-management crews often do less intensive thinning of trees and chaparral to slow advancing flames.

Such preventive treatment often involves creating fuel breaks, which can range from stripping away all woody vegetation on wide strips of land to thinning larger trees and removing shorter trees, brush and debris to discourage fires from climbing into treetops and jumping from tree to tree.

The agency estimated that more than 147 million trees have died across nearly 15,625 square miles during a drought that began in 2010, while about 1.5 million dead trees have been cut down.

Moreover, investigations have often blamed recent wildfires on utilities not doing a good enough job of clearing vegetation around power lines and equipment. Democratic state Sen. Bill Dodd of Napa has proposed legislation that would require Cal Fire to tell utilities which trees and brush to remove and then inspect the work.

Aside from Guard troops, Cal Fire also is creating 10 civilian fuels management crews this year. The 10-member crews could help with initial fire suppression if need be but will primarily reduce fuels, Mohler said.

“It’s going to be a pretty amazing sight to see as these crews get out there on the ground,” he said. “There’s hundreds of, unfortunately, Paradises cross the state, (so) the public needs to understand this.”