Active-duty soldiers to fight Washington fires

The Department of Defense has agreed to assign 200 active-duty soldiers to help fight a wildfire in Washington.

Civilian firefighting commanders said Tuesday the soldiers from Joint Base Lewis McChord, Washington, will undergo four days of training and then be sent to a complex of 14 wildfires in the Umpqua National Forest that have burned 47 square miles.

The soldiers will join about 1,000 firefighters already at the site.

The National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, a federal agency that coordinates wildfire-fighting, says 80 large fires are burning on 2,200 square miles (5,700 square kilometers) in nine Western states.

The military has already dispatched three C-130s to drop fire-retardant slurry and two RC-26 surveillance aircraft to help fight Western fires.