Valley fires crews heading to Northern California

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Valley fires crews heading to Northern California

Fires are raging across Northern California, and now more Valley crews are heading that way to help battle the blazes.

Nearly 20 firefighters are heading north to protect homes and cabins at a fire roughly 33,000 acres in size. And this, after working a regular shift in their hometown.

Fresno County Fire Battalion Chief Mike Bowman said, "You don't get that luxury of saying okay we will sleep tonight and I'll see you tomorrow afternoon. We unfortunately got about eight hours of hard driving time tonight and we can expect a 24 hour minimum shift tomorrow."

The Oregon Gulch Fire is one of several large fires in the northern part of the state picking up intensity because of the dry summer.

"It's inevitable that we are going to have significant incidents," said Cal Fire Captain Ryan Michaels. "These all happen to be in northern California. And they are just one after the other after the other."

Cal Fire Captain Ryan Michaels says once crews come back home after 21 days of working, they typically get one day to rest and they're back out again. They prepare for these types of working conditions, but usually the call volume isn't as heavy as it is right now.

"Burning intensity we've seen both here locally in Fresno and throughout the state have been further along," said Cal Fire Captain Ryan Michaels. "Plants, vegetation, trees are much, much drier."

Cal Fire Captain Ryan Michaels says they make sure to use only a few people from each city and county, so they have the manpower to fight fires at home.