A crew of Minnesota firefighters left Grand Rapids Friday morning in three trucks to help fight the wildfires burning in California. The Minnesota DNR crew will receive their assignment once they arrive in Southern California next week.

The Minnesota team will assist with current fire response efforts and may also be called upon to help with new outbreaks

The crew, which is part of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, is highly skilled and specially trained in all aspects of wildland fire impression.

With a healthy crop of balsam fir pines growing in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, northeast Minnesota is highly susceptible to a large fire, the map shows. Some of the

With the wildfires continuing to burn in Southern California, the American Red Cross has sent more than 300 volunteers to help with relief efforts, 19 of them from the Minnesota and Dakotas region.

A team of Minnesota firefighters will be heading west to help battle the ongoing wildfires around Los Angeles. Gov. Tim Walz announced the state will send a crew of Minnesota DNR wildland firefighters to support the response in southern California.