Nearly two weeks after leaving their homes and families along the Kitsap and Olympic peninsulas, firefighting crews from six fire and rescue departments in this region combined into a five-engine strike team to battle the massive wildfires in California.

Crews from South Kitsap Fire and Rescue, Central Kitsap Fire and Rescue, North Kitsap Fire and Rescue, Bainbridge Island Fire Department, Port Ludlow Fire and Rescue and East Jefferson Fire-Rescue combined forces in an attempt to contain brush fires that have consumed wide swatches of dry acreage, mainly in northern California.

The combined team of firefighters, called the South Puget Sound Strike Team, were on their way home earlier in the week when they were redeployed to a new fire in the Red Bluff, California, area. Crew members battled on the front lines of the fast-moving Ranch Fire, with the Brush 7 team and the rest of the strike team working 24-hour shifts to make progress in stopping the fire.