| schema:text
| - According to Oregon and California’s fire departments, trucks were stopped in Davis, California, just outside Sacramento, for maintenance and safety checks, and those trucks continued onward. Photos and news coverage confirm that trucks from other states were assisting firefighters in Los Angeles.
As wildfires raged in Los Angeles, California, in January 2025, nearby states like Oregon sent firefighters and trucks to aid in the emergency. Rumors soon spread that at least 60 trucks from Oregon were being turned away near the state Capitol of Sacramento, Calif., because they didn't meet California's smog-certification requirements.
Numerous Snopes readers asked us whether such claims were true and whether California was turning away fire trucks from other states.
A headline from a weekly local, Santa Monica Observer, stated, "Sacramento Bottles Up 60 Oregon Firetrucks Sent to Assist California Fire Fight, Lacking Smog Certificates." The story relied on a now-deleted X post from Jan. 10, 2025, that claimed trucks from Oregon were being held up in Sacramento for "emissions testing."
(X user @parkercardwell)
A similar rumor claimed trucks from other states were also being turned away, including from Arizona and Washington.
The above claims are not true, and some accounts that spread such rumors have either deleted or retracted the claims since first publishing them. Officials from both California and Oregon have shared statements denying such claims and showing trucks aiding firefighters in Los Angeles. Furthermore, news reports confirmed trucks from other states were actively aiding California firefighters.
Days after the news story spread widely, the Oregon Fire Marshal's office published a post on X, headlined, "Clearing up Misinformation." The post stated: "There is misinformation spreading on social media and from news outlets claiming our equipment had to pass emissions tests and our equipment and firefighters were turned away or delayed. TO BE CLEAR: THIS IS FALSE."
The statement added that trucks and strike teams traveled to Sacramento where they stayed over night, and on the morning of Jan. 9, they went through a routine safety check to make sure their engines were mechanically sound.
On Jan. 11, 2025, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) posted a video of trucks receiving mechanical services at the Davis Mobile Equipment facility, located outside of Sacramento, before heading onward:
As firefighting resources arrive from out of state to support the ongoing firefight, safety remains our top priority. Recognizing that these heavy-duty vehicles endure extensive travel, sometimes arriving with worn or out-of-specification components, we are committed to ensuring their safety before deployment to the front lines. Our proactive inspections and maintenance protocols guarantee that all equipment is fully operational, minimizing risks and maximizing effectiveness in fire suppression efforts.
An equipment manager in the video said trucks were coming in from Washington, Oregon and Idaho. Another employee said they were inspecting the vehicles and carrying out repairs.
Just a day after posting the above, CAL FIRE commented further below that post, rejecting claims that vehicles had been turned away due to emissions issues:
No vehicles from out of state have been turned around or refused service at Davis Mobile Equipment and all out-of-state vehicles have been serviced and are heading to or have arrived in Southern California. No emissions or SMOG testing was performed. All repairs were completed the same day with the exception of a couple because of parts but turnaround was early the next day.
The Davis Mobile Equipment facility has been a major stopping point for fire-fighting vehicles coming from out of the state. Before this emergency, the facility would operate on fire-fighting vehicles for the entire state. Per CAL FIRE's website:
Ensuring that CAL FIRE personnel statewide have the very best emergency response and resource protection vehicles is the responsibility of the staff of the CAL FIRE Mobile Equipment Facility. The facility is located in Davis, California, just outside of Sacramento. Staff is responsible for design, acquisition; maintenance, major repairs, replacement and disposal of all CAL FIRE-owned vehicles, and provides these services for local government equipment when requested. CAL FIRE fleet managers and equipment mechanics located statewide keep the Department's mobile fleet rolling on a daily basis.
According to the Oregon fire marshal, the state first sent 300 firefighters and 75 engines to aid in stopping the fires on Jan. 10, 2025. On Jan. 11, 2025, the state sent 70 more firefighters to join their teams in California. In a news release, the fire marshal noted, "These latest teams will leave Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, take part in a routine safety check to ensure the safety of our first responders, and will receive their assignments from CAL Fire."
According to KTVZ, an Oregon news station, 24 hours into their first shift, firefighters from Oregon helped save a home in Southern California. Per photographs posted by the Facebook page for the fire department of Salem, Oregon, the out-of-state fire engine could be seen in California with a hose going into a house.
Per a Fox 11 news report and a CAL FIRE post, firefighters from Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Oregon, Washington, New Mexico, Idaho, Colorado, and Texas had arrived to aid California in battling the wildfires.
Photographs on Getty Images show exhausted firefighters from Oregon fighting the fires in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles, and resting in the fire engines they brought across state lines.
After a 24-hour shift battling blazes in Pacific Palisades, firefighters from Pleasant Hills, Oregon, are exhausted Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025. (Mindy Schauer/Orange County Register/Getty Images)
California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced firefighters were even coming from Mexico to aid the efforts.
According to CAL FIRE, the coordination between states was possible due to the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC), an agreement enabling states to share resources during disasters. EMAC allows states giving aid to be automatically licensed and qualified to provide services in the state requesting aid, per Article V of the compact:
Whenever any person holds a license, certificate, or other permit issued by any state party to the compact evidencing the meeting of qualifications for professional, mechanical, or other skills, and when such assistance is requested by the receiving party state, such person shall be deemed licensed, certified, or permitted by the state requesting assistance to render aid involving such skill to meet a declared emergency or disaster, subject to such limitations and conditions as the governor of the requesting state may prescribe by executive order or otherwise.
Since the time the original posts went up, a number of them were deleted or retracted. The Santa Monica paper wrote, "Our original story was based on a tweet that has since been deleted. The original tweet is below. We're unable to verify the original tweet, so we're taking it down. We were asked to take it down because 'we can't have people like you posting misinformation during an emergency.' This from a local official."
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)