Australia Wildfires: How California Is Lending A Hand

LOS ANGELES, CA — Twenty firefighters who helped battle the last year's stunningly fast-moving Saddleridge Fire headed for Australia on Monday to lend their expertise to a nation battling more than 12 million acres in wildfires.

The firefighters come from all over Los Angeles, and they will spend 35 days helping out in Australia before being rotated out. Their experience battling California's catastrophic fires will help Australia in its time of crisis, said Forest Service spokesman Andrew Mitchell.

"Australian firefighters come over here to train with us to fight our fires, so we are returning the favor to them," Mitchell said. "It's possible we will send over another crew, when this crew rotates out."

The crews assembled Monday at the Little Tujunga Hotshot Station, at 12371 Little Tujunga Canyon Road, to depart. The firefighters were scheduled to fly out of LAX at 4:30 p.m.

"It’s an impressive dream team of sorts,” Mitchell told the Los Angeles Times. The firefighters have experience managing hotshot crews as well as aviation efforts.

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.