Fire Resources Near Breaking Point

A 26-year firefighting veteran says the California wildfires are pushing crews and resources to the breaking point. More than 10,000 firefighters are battling ten major fires that have burned across more than a half-million acres.

Fire resources in the Mother Lode are now stretched incredibly thin as well.

According to information on their Website 80 percent of all CDF fire personnel and equipment in the state are now in Southern California on those fires. More than a hundred area firefighters, plus dozens of engines and support personnel from Tuolumne County´s state, local and U.S. Forest Service departments are battling the wildfires as well.

Sonora City Fire Captain Eric Hille says his fire crew is now helping cover the county along with seven other fire stations that are manned, but Hille says he and his crew are all packed and now part of a five engine strike team prepared to get the word to ship out to Southern California at a moments notice.