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Several rural Idaho fire crews on the ground fighting Woolsey Fire in California

Some of the fire crews from Idaho will be in California for at least the next two weeks.

BOISE — Deadly wildfires rage on across California. Fire crews in Northern California are now in their fourth day of battling the deadly Camp Fire that has claimed at least 42 lives.

Since it erupted on Thursday morning, thousands of people have been evacuated, 200 people have been reported missing and thousands of homes have burned. It is the deadliest and most destructive fire in California history - and on its own would be a lot for the state to deal with.

But it’s not the only one: the Woolsey Fire in Ventura and Los Angeles counties also started Thursday afternoon. That fire has taken at least two lives and destroyed over 300 structures. Crews are working around the clock protecting homes, building containment lines and knocking down flare-ups.

Some of those crews on the Woolsey Fire right now are from here in the Treasure Valley. Fighting the ravaging, destructive flames on the ground is Idaho Task Force 1. The rural fire crews will be in California for at least the next two weeks.

“When we all become one cohesive group it's all one task,” Kuna Fire Department firefighter/paramedic Cody Trosky said.

There are so many massive wildfires and only so many resources in California. This isn't the first time Idaho - or even the departments there now - have sent crews down there to help out. The magnitude of what they're facing is unlike anything we've seen here.

Crews and trucks from Kuna, Sand Hollow, Emmett and Parma are currently on the ground in the Golden State.

“They will be directly involved in fire suppression activities there,” Sand Hollow Fire Chief Toby Robinson told KTVB. “Just from what we've all seen on national news, it's just an extreme need right now. It’s a pretty good feeling to have individuals volunteering here that are going down and helping out.”

It can be a different beast than fighting fire here.

“One of the big things we are going down there as is we're unsure of the terrain, we're unsure of the fire behavior California has. So when we went down in 2007 we did a lot of structure protection and recon and seeing what the damage had done,” Trosky said. "They have Santa Ana winds so right now, today, I know captain said winds are blowing in excess of 40 miles an hour. And the fire can go football fields in a matter of minutes and that’s what’s going on down there.”

“We have a lot of the same type of fires we just don’t have them as frequently here,” Trosky added. “Kind of also helps us prepare our communities to be safer when it comes to fires so we hopefully don’t have the devastation California is having.”

But Trosky says similar training has prepared our local departments to work together.

“The watch out situations are the same, the way we deploy fire shelters are the same, the equipment we carry on our trucks is basically close to the same. So that way even if it's different fire departments in different states we have that ability to work unified to remedy the problem,” Trosky added.

Kuna has four people down there, including the task force leader, along with a Type 4 off-road engine.

“The goal is just lend a helping hand, be part of the mission,” Trosky added. “We love going down, we love helping those people. And it's reciprocated back. If we have a big incident here - the big forest fires - the reason we go to California or anywhere we go deployed is because anytime we could have a big incident here and we need their help as well.”

The mission also involves six firefighters and two vehicles from rural volunteer Sand Hollow Fire Protection District.

“The main goal for me and my personnel is the life experience. They're going to have huge amounts of on-the-job experience, training opportunities. They'll be working with other guys, learning small simple pointers that’ll help them further their career in the fire service,” Robinson told KTVB.

But it's no easy task for the firefighters.

“Each individual it’s going to affect differently. I have some concerns about some of our younger guys that are maybe less experienced and maybe haven't seen as much of this type of thing,” Robison said. “I'm concerned of our older guys. Just because they've been doing this for a while and seen some of that stuff, death - whether it be an animal or human or just someone's home burning to the ground and they're standing in front of it in tears – it’s heart-wrenching to try to cope with that sometimes.”

As the devastation is rampant and the amount of loss is unimaginable.

Kuna says they may rotate crews out, keep the truck there, and send more guys. Both Sand Hollow and Kuna tell KTVB there's a good chance their crews won't be back home for Thanksgiving. But, they know the day they sign up to be a firefighter, this is the oath they take.

“It’s tough at times; we have a few of our guys down there that have small children. There is obviously a pretty good chance they are going to be away for at least Thanksgiving. Hopefully, we'll have them home before Christmas,” Robinson told KTVB.

Fortunately the comradery they inevitably build is powerful.

“The comradery is amazing. I've personally been in fire service 22 years and it doesn't matter where you’re at, what country you’re from, what state you’re from, what city you’re from - we're all brothers in arms. We're all firefighters,” Robinson added.

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