The Mark Twain Veteran Crew responded to the Hughes Fire in California this week.
“The crew has been very busy working long hours on fires,” Cody Norris, public affairs officer for the Mark Twain National Forest, said.
On Friday morning, it was reported 36 percent contained and covering 10,396 areas.
“These are from their point of view as they worked yesterday responding to the Hughes Fire,” Norris said.
The fire, covering more than 10,000 acres near the Los Angeles County community of Castaic, started Wednesday, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection reported (see https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2025/1/22/hughes-fire).
“A highly successful initial attack yesterday set the stage for Thursday’s (1/23) continued aggressive air and ground operations,” officials reported. “Aided by air support, crews in various regions of the fire used direct and indirect containment techniques to gain additional control of the fire. Today’s high winds tested the fire’s containment lines, and crews responded swiftly to a spot fire along the west flank affecting approximately 100 acres. A Red Flag Warning remains in effect until 10 a.m. Friday and we are posed to swiftly protect the communities in which our crews are staged.”
The 26-member veterans crew from Missouri, based out of Cassville, had not been assigned to one fire since arriving in California. They had been used on “initial attack,” chasing down reports of new wildfire starts.
A second crew of 13 more firefighters was also heading to California, according to an earlier report.