{"id":410503,"date":"2026-07-24T07:08:05","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T07:08:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/410503\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T07:08:05","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T07:08:05","slug":"fresno-co-firefighters-and-aircraft-sent-to-help-battle-rock-fire-threatening-inyo-county-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/410503\/","title":{"rendered":"Fresno Co. firefighters and aircraft sent to help battle Rock Fire threatening Inyo County"},"content":{"rendered":"

FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. \u2014 The Rock Fire continues to burn in Inyo County, scorching more than 11,479 acres and threatening nearby communities. <\/p>\n

\"Fresno<\/p>\n

Fresno Co. firefighters and aircraft sent to help battle Rock Fire threatening Inyo County. (Photo: CAL FIRE)<\/p>\n

The fire is currently 5% contained.<\/p>\n

As firefighters work to increase containment, Fresno-based crews and aircraft are assisting with the response.<\/p>\n

From the Fresno Air Attack Base to the fire lines in Inyo County, firefighting aircraft are making repeated trips landing, reloading, and heading back into the firefight throughout the day.<\/p>\n

Gary Couch, a Fire Captain with CAL FIRE\/Fresno County Fire, says aircraft from Fresno are among the resources helping battle the blaze.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve sent one air attack and one air tanker and helicopter over to the Rock Fire,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Among those aircraft are one of CAL FIRE\u2019s newest C-130 air tankers based in Fresno, along with another C-130 from the Ramona Air Attack Base.<\/p>\n

\"Fresno<\/p>\n

Fresno Co. firefighters and aircraft sent to help battle Rock Fire threatening Inyo County. (Photo: CAL FIRE)<\/p>\n

Couch says air resources are critical during fast-moving wildfires because they can often reach the fire before ground crews and help slow the flames.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause sometimes they arrive first and they\u2019ll be able to slow the fire down, which will allow us more time to arrive on scene and extinguish the fire,” he said. <\/p>\n

The local support is not just coming from the air. <\/p>\n

CAL FIRE also sent hand crews to assist with operations on the ground.<\/p>\n

Couch says Fresno resources include two hand crews, making up a strike team of about 30 firefighters and a leader.<\/p>\n

Officials say Fresno-based aircraft and crews will continue supporting the Rock Fire response until needed. <\/p>\n

The Rock Fire<\/a> is burning near communities and infrastructure around Birch Creek, Fish Springs, Tinnemaha Campground, Baxter Ranch, and the Perlite Mine. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. \u2014 The Rock Fire continues to burn in Inyo County, scorching more than 11,479 acres…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408748,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-410503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410503\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}