Minnesota firefighters help fight western wildfires

As wildfires burn across the Pacific Northwest, Minnesota firefighters are pitching in to help battle the blazes.

About 200 firefighters from Minnesota are helping fight fires in western states including Montana and Oregon, said Christi Powers, a spokesperson for the Minnesota Interagency Fire Center. They include both frontline fire crews and support positions.

Powers said they haven't been able to fill all the requests for assistance.

"There's a great need right now in the Northwest geographic area as well as the northern Rockies," she said. "We have resources that are assigned to about 10 states."

Powers says typical firefighting assignments last 14 days, but some volunteers are extending that to 21 days. She says low humidity, high winds and warm temperatures are making it difficult to contain the fires.

"Oregon and Montana really haven't seen a fire season like this in quite some time," Powers said. "Typically, Minnesota starts heading into its fire season in October. So we're trying to balance the need between keeping the resources here at home in case anything happens here, but also helping our neighbors."

Smoke from the western wildfires has been visible in Minnesota and has affected air quality.