California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday called up additional 2,000 National Guard Troops to help in the state's firefighting effort.
"I am ordering 2,000 additional California National Guard (CNG) personnel to boost our firefighting forces," Schwarzenegger said.
"We already have 400 guard members on the front lines, and once these new troops are trained and certified, they will be ready to pitch in at a moment's notice throughout the fire season."
The troops were ordered to complete firefighter training, boosting the state's firefighting forces to battle the state's ongoing fires and to prepare for the threat of additional fires over the next several months, the governor said.
On Thursday, the federal government committed to sending out-of-state firefighters to train these additional CNG personnel on critical firefighting techniques. Since July 1, the governor has directed more than 400 CNG soldiers to be trained and deployed to fires across the state.
Despite the significant federal support which included Bush's emergency declaration of June 28, California continued to face shortages of federal assets, Schwarzenegger said earlier.
Hundreds of wildfires continued unabated in California for more than 10 days. Across the state, fire crews have strained to cover hundreds of wildfires that have burned nearly 1,100 square miles (about 445 square kilometers) and destroyed nearly 100 homes since a lightning storm ignited most of them more than two weeks ago. Some 1,460 fires had been contained, but more than 320 were still active, authorities said.
Source:Xinhua
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