City Fire Crews Deploy to Wildfires Burning in Three States

Pasadena firefighters have spent the past several weeks working wildfires in three states, including two of the most destructive incidents burning in the West, as the region moves into the heart of its fire season.

Pasadena Fire Department personnel have been assigned to major incidents across California, Oregon and Washington, according to Fire Chief Chad Augustin. Water Tender 34 spent four days on the Summit Incident, and a fire engineer served seven days on the Biscar Incident as a fireline paramedic. A captain worked the Fox Incident as a medical unit leader before being reassigned to the Old Trails Fire in Spokane. A firefighter deployed to the Grasshopper Incident as a comp claim unit leader, and another was sent to the Gann Incident in Calaveras County.

Those last two assignments put Pasadena crews on fires that have destroyed hundreds of buildings. The Old Trails Fire broke out Aug. 1 west of Spokane and, together with the neighboring Fairview and Autumn Lane fires, is now managed as the Spokane Complex. Spokane County Fire District 3 Chief Cody Rohrbach said 640 of the more than 700 structures lost in the complex burned in the Old Trails Fire alone. Roughly 65,000 people were placed under evacuation orders. Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown called it “the worst natural disaster our region has faced.”

The Gann Fire ignited Aug. 3 near Hogan Dam Road and Gann Road outside Valley Springs in Calaveras County and had burned 10,372 acres with 19% containment as of the evening of Aug. 5, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Seven structures have been destroyed and one firefighter injured. A department spokesperson, Ricardo Coronado, described the terrain there as “steep and rugged.” Investigators arrested a 65-year-old Valley Springs man, alleging he recklessly started the fire while operating spark-producing equipment in vegetation.

Governor Gavin Newsom secured a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant for the Gann Fire covering 75% of eligible suppression costs, the state’s third such grant of 2026, according to the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.

The legal architecture behind these deployments is 76 years old. The California Disaster and Civil Defense Master Mutual Aid Agreement, signed in November 1950 by Governor Earl Warren, commits the state and its cities and counties to share firefighting, police, medical and communications resources during disasters. Under the state mutual aid plan, a local agency is expected to have reasonably exhausted its own resources before outside help is ordered.

Pasadena does not absorb the full cost of sending crews. The California Fire Assistance Agreement is the negotiated reimbursement mechanism for local government fire agencies responding through the state mutual aid system, and the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services processes those claims through its Mutual Aid Reimbursement System.

Washington is having its worst fire year since 2021, with more than 1,000 fires burning about 425,000 acres during a fourth consecutive statewide drought, according to the state Department of Natural Resources. Fire season in both states typically runs June through October, leaving roughly two months of peak exposure ahead.

Closer to home, Pasadena voters will decide Nov. 3 whether to approve a dedicated parcel tax for the fire department that would pay for year-round brush clearance and wildfire prevention among other work.