Out-of-state crews went to Montana to tackle a wildfire that wounded five firefighters as Australia sent a large air tanker to help Californian firefighting efforts, as 88 large blazes raged in the U.S. Saturday.
The big picture: Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte (R) tweeted his thanks to Utah and California for sending crews over the weekend, as the two states battle their own blazes. The Australian tanker arrived in Calif., this week, where Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) proclaimed a state of emergency for four northern counties Friday.
A helicopter drops water over the Devils Creek Fire in Montana July 22, when the federal firefighters were injured after a "sudden wind shift blew the wildfire back over their position as they were constructing a defensive fire line on the perimeter:" of the blaze, per the Bureau of Land Management. Photo: BLM - Montana/Dakotas/Facebook
Fire crews work to contain the Tamarack Fire near Markleeville, Calif., July 21. The blaze along the California-Nevada state line has razed 65,152 acres and was 4% contained as of July 24. Photo: Ty O'Neil/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
A National Guard Humvee stationed at a closed juncture during the Bootleg Fire, in the mountains outside of Lakeside, Oregon, U.S., on July 24, is the biggest of the blazes engulfing mostly western U.S. states. It has burned 408,248 acres and was 46% as of July 24. The spread has been curtailed amid a reduction in "general winds and shading of fuels from an inversion," Inciweb notes. Photo: Maranie Staab/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Resident Pamela Aylen and her husband, Dan, at their home in a rural part of Twain, California, on July 24, are ignoring an evacuation order over the Dixie Fire, saying: "If we're going to get taken out, we're going out swinging." Photo: Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images
The sun sets behind the Grand Teton peak, shrouded in smoke from regional wildfires July 14 at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, where four large wildfires are burning as of July 24. Photo: Natalie Behring/Getty Images