McKinney firefighter talks about his experience fighting wildfires in California

Nearly 200 firefighters from across the state deployed to the West Coast Friday to help fight the historic wildfires there.

That included firefighter teams for nearly 20 North Texas departments.

Many have been in California for weeks, including a team from McKinney.

One North Texas firefighter who has already been fighting the wildfires for weeks said he misses his family — a wife and two kids — but even though they hate to see him leave, they understand it’s the job he’s been called to do.

“It’s not about us. It’s about helping each other out and helping the neighbors out,” McKinney firefighter Quincy Blount said.

Blount has been in California for nearly three weeks, and he said his crew is working 24 hours on, 24 hours off, but off days are mostly spent preparing for what lies ahead.

“They’re just burning a lot of land up right now,” he said.

The wildfires are nothing like what he’s used to fighting back in Texas.

“I’ve never been in a situation where I’ve actually had to use my light on my helmet at 3 o’clock in the afternoon because I could not see,” Blount explained.

Dallas Fire-Rescue deployed 13 of its wildland firefighters Friday morning.

It’s a two-week assignment.

They’ll be joined by teams from 55 additional departments across Texas, many of them from North Texas.

Some of these groups have already had crews out west.

“It’s kind of like the golden rule: do unto others as you want them to do unto you,” Blount added.

While Blount is willing to help, he misses his family — a wife, 13-year old son, and 7-year old daughter. He said his daughter told him she didn’t want him to leave, but understands it’s his job.

“If we were having the fires back here, like I told you, she knows someone would be coming to help us,” he said.

Now, more Texans will try to do their small but significant part in battling those fires out west.

Each crew is fighting their assigned area as part of a greater picture effort.

“We have to get that portion done in order to get this whole thing contained,” Blount said.

Blount is set to return early next week once he’s relieved by the crews that left Friday.