On their longest fire run ever, four firefighters from Fire District 13’s Station 1 are in Calistoga, Napa County, California providing structure protection against fires from the LNU Lightening Complex Fire. They drove down Aug. 21 in Unit 13-11 a fire engine designed for structure fires. Jami Jurdi, FD 13’s assistant chief, is in charge.

The team is “red card” certified to fight wildland fires, FD 13 Chief Wood Weiss told the Weekly News Monday. “They have that gear,” he said. Phillip Andrew will be the team leader if they are assigned wildland duty.

“They will be mainly putting out fires on structures,” Weiss said. They arrived Sunday. Jurdi texted Weiss that they were “working all day and into the night.” “It sounds like a 24 hour shift; working days and night,” said Weiss. Residents have been evacuated from local communities, he said.

The crew will be there for a maximum of 18 days.

Fire District 13 has 10 wildland red card certified firefighters including a member from the La Conner Fire Department.

This is the first year FD 13 crews have responded for regional help. Two teams were in eastern Washington earlier this summer.