Round Rock firefighters deployed to California wildfires

The City of Round Rock deployed five firefighters and one fire apparatus this week to assist with ongoing wildfire rescue and containment efforts in California.

Lt. Matt Quade, Captain Jason Rutherford and Driver Wayne Pietzsch of the Round Rock Fire Department traveled to California Friday, Sept. 11 as part of a strike team from Texas to assist in fighting ongoing wildfires. 

The Round Rock team has been assigned to the Creek Fire in Fresno, which is located in Madera County. As of Monday morning, the fire was 212,744 acres and 10 percent contained.

The team is expecting to stay in California for at least two weeks.

More than 30,000 firefighters have been assigned to fire incidents across the country as wildfires continue in several western states, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. The agency estimates that 94 large fires have burned 4.6 million acres.