Beginning next fiscal year, the Washington Army National Guard will have a new unit primarily focused on firefighting.
“The addition of engineer firefighting teams will provide tactical firefighting capability to the Pacific Northwest,” said Brig. Gen. Paul Sellars, commanding general of the Washington Army National Guard. “The capability will support units during exercise and fire events as well as provide additional regional support as required by requesting agencies.”
In November 2020, Washington Army National Guard leaders sent a memorandum to the National Guard Bureau requesting this team.
“We knew what the force structure could look like and found out that the Alabama Army National Guard wanted to divest of its firefighting team, so we jumped at the chance and worked with them to get a signed divest/invest memo,” said Chief Warrant Officer 5 Marc Brackett, who was the force integration readiness officer at the time of the request.