Western Washington firefighters head to California to help with wildfires



ISSAQUAH, Wash. -- Firefighters from western Washington are helping out in Northern California, where a devastating fire has ripped through wine country.

It's already more than twice the size of San Francisco, and still growing.

Lt. Frank Dahlquist with Eastside Fire & Rescue says that even though they're well-trained to deal with forest fires, California presents a unique challenge.

"The fire behavior with that Santa Ana wind that rips there is overwhelming on the intensity of that fire," Dahlquist said. "We have seen similar type situations in Washington state, though, and these crews are well-versed in the wildland they've been there before and they know how it is. So hopefully they're gonna be down there being safe but putting up a  good fight."

California's largest utility, Pacific Gas & Electric Co., has cut power in the past two weeks to millions of Northern California residents. The move followed several deadly wildfires, including one that killed 85 and destroyed the town of Paradise and plunged the company into bankruptcy.

Despite recent outages, PG&E's power lines may have started two smaller fires over the weekend in the San Francisco Bay Area and a massive blaze still burning in Sonoma County wine country, the utility said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report