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California's smoke jumpers hunt down hard-to-reach blazes
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Aug 5, 2014
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California's smoke jumpers hunt down hard-to-reach blazes
A special unit of firefighters is one of the only groups that can reach remote wildfires quickly enough to stop them from spreading.
Smoke jumpers battle a fire west of Thousand Oaks in Ventura County on May 2, 2013.
Smoke jumpers battle a fire west of Thousand Oaks in Ventura County on May 2, 2013.
(
Grant Slater/KPCC
)

A special unit of firefighters is one of the only groups that can reach remote wildfires quickly enough to stop them from spreading.

So far this year, wildfires in California have scorched more than 100 square miles. Some meteorologists say the coming weeks could bring a lot of lightning, which often hits in remote places, far from access roads.

A special unit of firefighters is one of the only groups that can reach those wildfires quickly enough to preventing them from spreading.

The California Report's Alex Helmick caught up with California's only smoke jumping crew.