International Firefighters and MAFFS Aircraft Deployed as Northwest Resources Are Pushed to the Limit

The scale of Oregon and Washington's 2026 wildfire season has triggered an unprecedented mobilization of firefighting resources — including international teams from Australia and New Zealand, military air tankers, and deployments from California — as the Northwest Coordination Center works around the clock to get personnel and equipment where they are needed most.

International Assistance

One 15-member Incident Management Team and 59 fireline management personnel from Australia and New Zealand are now assigned to support large fires in the Northwest. The international crews arrived as part of a long-standing bilateral agreement between the United States and these Southern Hemisphere nations, which have historically exchanged firefighters during their respective off-seasons. This year, both countries dispatched personnel early in response to the extraordinary fire situation in the Pacific Northwest.

Crews from California have also been deployed to Oregon to bolster suppression efforts, according to KLCC Public Radio. The Castle Fire in the Umpqua National Forest, which has grown to more than 1,700 acres, is among the fires where out-of-state resources are now engaged.

MAFFS Military Air Tankers

Four Modular Airborne FireFighting System (MAFFS) aircraft and their support personnel are currently operating out of Klamath Falls, Oregon, and Redding, California. MAFFS units are military-grade retardant delivery systems that can be rapidly deployed on USAF C-130 aircraft, adding heavy air tanker capacity during periods of peak demand. Their deployment reflects the strain on civilian air tanker resources posed by the volume of active fires.

Oregon National Guard

The Oregon National Guard has deployed helicopters and servicemembers to assist on Oregon's firelines, providing aerial water drops, transport, and ground support to overwhelmed civilian crews. This domestic deployment underscores how stretched resources have become across the state's 31 large active fires.

A System Under Strain

The Northwest Coordination Center in Portland coordinates the ordering and movement of all firefighting resources across Oregon and Washington. With the region at National Preparedness Level 5 and 45 uncontained large fires, the center is managing an extraordinary logistics challenge — balancing immediate threats to life and property against the needs of dozens of active incidents simultaneously.

Nationally, 26,036 firefighters and support personnel are currently engaged, including 582 crews, 1,501 engines, and 168 helicopters. Even at that scale, resource availability for the Northwest is tight. Fire managers across the region have noted that limited resources sometimes force difficult prioritization decisions about which fires receive what level of support.

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